FOR the first time in half a century, the voters of Chile have sent someone from the political right to La Mondeda, the presidential palace in the charming capital city, Santiago. In the final instalment of a two-part election last month, Sebastian Piñera edged past Eduardo Frei 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

The election also marked the end of a 20-year run in power by the Concertación, a centre-left coalition of the Christian Democrats, the Socialists, the Party for Democracy and the small Radical Party. Piñera’s right-of-centre group, the Coalition for Change, comprises the Independent National Union, which adheres to strict Roman Catholicism, has strong pro-business economic policies and has roots in the Augusto Pinochet regime, as well as National Renovation, composed of traditional democrats and old-fashioned nationalists.

The headlines trumpeting Piñera’s victory made much of the fact that he is a billionaire (his self-made fortune is variously estimated at between US$1.5 and US$2 billion), introduced credit cards to Chile, owns a television empire, a substantial chunk of the national airline LAN and flies his own helicopter.

He will take office in just over a month from the still very popular Michelle Bachelet (80 per cent support), who after four years in office cannot succeed herself. She can, however, run again the next time round, as did this year’s loser, Eduardo Frei, who left office in 2000 and became a senator. Frei’s father, also named Eduardo, became president in 1964 after soundly defeating a physician known as Salvador Allende. Allende went on to win in 1970 and shot himself when a cabal of army officers, led by Augusto Pinochet, attacked the presidential palace on September 11, 1973.

While many outside commentators rub their hands in glee at the prospect of a considerable shift to the right in Chile, the movement is likely to be quite modest. That’s because Concertación has racked up a commendable record during its period in office. When it came to power, Pinochet was still head of the armed forces and there was a powerful business sector fattened by his economic policies.

The new government was hampered by a constitution Pinochet’s puppet legislature rubber-stamped in 1980. It was an authoritarian, restrictive document resistant to reform, but the new government had to rise to demands by an increasingly restive public. The public wanted action against gross abuses of human rights, including the disappearance of thousands of opponents of the regime, as well as reform of an overheated economy, considerable economic disparity and widespread poverty.

The remarkable achievements of the Concertación coalition are not as widely known as they should be. In the past two decades it has been able to make a considerable reduction in the problems it faced. To its credit, Chile posted economic growth averaging more than five per cent in each of those 20 years, with the per capita Gross Domestic Product increasing from some US$4500 to more than US$14,000. The proportion of Chileans living in poverty fell from more than 38 per cent in 1989 to just under 14 per cent last year.

Five years ago, President Ricardo Lagos opened up the constitution to make it more democratic. The changes eliminated non-elected designated senators, widened the powers of the congress and extended civilian control of the military. It also attacked the backlog of cases against operatives of the Pinochet regime for human rights abuses.

Concertación lost the presidential election because its candidate was not as presentable as that of the Coalition for Change, and also because it fell into the familiar rut of being in power too long and taking too many things for granted. Piñera used his considerable personal purse to conduct precise polling to gauge the public appetite and bought up-to-date printing equipment to produce his own slick campaign material.

But the centre-left grouping retains control of the congress, and Piñera will have to negotiate with them any substantial changes he may want to make. His main promise is to create a quarter-million jobs a year. He also wants to push up the growth rate by one per cent and increase productivity. His ideal is to usher Chile into the ranks of developed countries, the first in Latin America, within a decade as a tribute to the country’s bicentennial this year.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the election result is what it demonstrates about Chile’s political stability and maturity. It shows that Chile can comfortably accommodate a change of government and that it has learnt some important lessons from the major trauma inflicted by Pinochet and the old self-important military establishment.

Piñera faces the serious job of liberating the right from the noxious not-too-distant past, responding to the aspirations and demands of broad social groups and behaving in a manner respectful of democratic traditions and practices. The opposition has to engage in a process of renewing and rejuvenating its member parties and re-connecting with an increasingly indifferent and apathetic electorate, especially young people.

The new president will have to demonstrate his piloting skills as he constructs his cabinet. Many will be watching for how many Pinochetistas he will include, and how he will satisfy the more conservative factions of his coalition. The election may be a break in the generally leftward trend we have witnessed in Latin America in recent years, but it is by no means as radical a change as many have portrayed.

Remembering Rex

Like almost everyone else, I was shocked and saddened by the news of Rex Nettleford’s illness and death. I met him in 1964, when he headed up the newly created Trade Union Education Institute, which was financed by the umbrella body of American labour, the AFL-CIO.

I was at loose ends after the historic JBC strike when the NWU arranged for me to attend one of the institute’s regular courses. Rex arranged the course, which included about 30 or 40 trade unionists from Bermuda to Guyana, from Trinidad and Curaçao to Barbados and Grenada. Although it featured contributions from old trade union hands as well as academics, Rex did most of the lectures. He was an excellent teacher who built quick rapport with the class members and communicated his concepts clearly and graphically.

When I became assistant chief news editor at RJR a few years later, one of my duties was to line up commentaries to complement the newscasts. Rex was on the roster and I found him especially useful as a back-stop. If a scheduled commentator was unable to show up, I could call upon Rex at short notice. He never failed to come up with a knowledgeable, well-prepared and well-argued piece that fit the time requirements. Later, when I migrated to Canada and worked with the national radio network, I would from time to time interview him in programmes to explain Caribbean developments to a North American audience.

Rex was one of the few tall trees in our small forest.

keeble.mack@sympatico.ca