Chile 2006

Already at the border, comimg from Argentina, there is a different feeling when entering Chile. The border controls seem to be some remainings of certain past times. Somehow one feels intimidated, even if this feeling then fades away. Then prices change and they go up... nearly to European standards, and quite expensive at touristic places. Even though some 600 Pesos make 1 Euro and all costs thousands (one coffee 500 or 1000 Pesos, one coca-cola 1500, etc) the local currency is not cheap and it has been getting stronger, at least against the dollar. And curious thing, on the border with Argentina, they would not accept argentinian pesos in Chile, which seems good for border relations... Maybe we should export the Interreg programme here, 'cause there doesn't seem to be much 'friendship' between chilean and argentinians. The Lake crossing ended at Puerto Varas, a nice touristic resort on lake Llanquihue. There was some sort of party for the candidate Sebastian Piñeras (rightwing candidate), part of the ongoing campaign for the presidential ellections, which will take place next sunday 15 January (2nd go). The other candidate is a woman, Michelle Bachelet (left), from the party which is in power, apparently already for 16 years. But I'll come back to the ellections, will first end my 1st part of the tour in Chile. From Puerto Varas I moved on to Puerto Montt a rather big city of more than 100,000 people. Certainly not a nice city not to say ugly (the centre full of banks and shopping centres and an uggly architecture mix), a port town and apparently also an important regional industry and service centre, some 200 kms south of Valdivia. In Puerto Montt one does not feel 'safe' at all in the streets, and this was confirmed by the taxi driver, who told me to avoid walking around with valuable things and in certain areas. Anyway the only thing I did was eating some grilled fish with seafood (cangrio) which was excellent, at the 'Clube de Yates' which was the only decent place I found (appart from Mcdonalds & co.) to serve fish & seafood, and which seems to be frequented by the local rich elite. The following day I took the flight to Punta Arenas, with Lan, a big local company which is apparently owned by Mr Piñeiras himself and is associated with American Airlines. The flight came from Santiago, went to Punta Arenas and continued further to the Falkland Islands (or should I say Islas Malvinas?) and was full of british people. The strange thing was that the plane, an Airbus 321, which normally does middle range connections, had a section for exectutive, not the usual business chairs in Europe, but big sofas, very comfortable, allowing one to sleep. Another example of the benefits of the local elite, it seems...

One remark... if you come here avoid Puerto Montt... it rains all the time, some 300 days a year...

In any case, in and around Puerto Montt, one can feel the development in Chile, it seems to be an area which is doing well, growing, good roads, lots of industry... there is a four-lane highway to Santiago - some 1000 kms (and apparently 1000 kms more to the north of the capital) which were apparently completed in the recent years. All this, one must notice, without the support of the european structural funds... So all in all it would seem that the chilean economy isn't doing that bad, which is of course supported by the statistics.

But what do the people think?... There seems to be a general feeling that the government hasn't done enough in recent years, in particular in education, health, even for the poorer classes and there is the feeling that crime (delincuencia) is growing and streets are becomimg unsafer. In this region, according to my contacts, it would seem that Piñeira will become the next president, this despite the fact that Bachelet is well ahead in the surveys (some 42 % against some 30% for Piñeira), with some 12% hesitating who to vote. Some pretend she hasn't done anything while she was in the government as Minister of Defense or of Education. Others say Piñeira will be stronger to defend Chile's interests in the international scene, for instance with Argentina. I sense some 'machist' feelings behind some opinions and it is true that in the surveys the percentage of women voting for Bachelet is much higher that for men. Somehow it is not easy for Bachelet to promise 'renovation' when her party and herself have been in the government so long, but, being a woman and having climbed the political stairs from the people and without economic connections, Bachelet offers a certain legitimacy which is difficult for others to pretend. She promises more equal chances in the government and in public life if she is ellected and also that the new government would not integrate anyone who is presently in the government. This may be a promise difficult to keep but it certainly is positively judged by the voters. All in all, it seems that Michelle will have a hard time to win the ellections (this seems to be a very conservative country, very machist and also homophobic...), the fact that the communist party is supporting her may also scare some voters, let alone the fact that she is divorced and not catholic. Somehow in this parts of Chile people seem to favour a guy who is a millionaire, a successful businessman and a politician, but who in time has supported Pinochet, as many did, because it's good to be close to power if you want to do business... They consider he will be more capable of ensuring the economic push that Chile needs, promote good relations with the USA (which seems to be a strong ally here) and defend the country's interests and even to ensure policies that can bring more social justice. It is true that many years in power can play a negative role for a candidate from the same political area, but to me it seems also difficult that someone who has been a strong supporter of Pinochet can now claim to be a renovator and to change this country. Difficult to judge when one does not know the country well enough and is not aware of all the background, but it will be on sunday a fight between a certain past and a more recent past, between conservative forces and a more modern and democratic way. Next sunday we'll find out to which side the heart of Chile goes.