Vote Bradner for President!

Unfortunately, I cannot become president of Chile. However being president of any country is just not on my to-do list. Even so, Chile does not allow foreigners to even vote unless they have been living in Chile legally for five years and are at least 18 years of age.

The process of voting is overseen by the Electoral Service which is independent from the Chilean government. They do all of the work, but the announcement of winners is done by the Election Qualifying Court, which is made up of four Supreme Court members and a former legislator who is picked by the Supreme Court. This eliminates any efforts of corruption of clientelism.

The electoral system in Chile is binomial, in which the New Majority and the Alliance dominated the population. Much like in the United States, the Democratic party is similar to the New Majority as being leftist, and the Republican party being similar to the Alliance holding rightist beliefs. This has been the status quo since the Pinochet regime. Much like in the United States, it does not allow for much progress to be made politically because the views differ drastically and the power is shared equally between the two parties.

It is my belief that having a binomial system is hindering to the ability of the government. It takes twice as long for anything to be accomplished and by that time there have been so many compromises made that the agreed upon change is rendered useless. However, I find it had to have any other type of system without allowing for one party to completely take control and make changes that the republic is not in favor of. Although all systems have flaws, this is perhaps the most sound system for keeping the peace and hearing all voices on issues.

The next presidential election in Chile is in 2018, so we will have to wait to see how that turns out in terms of which political party takes the reins. Currently Michelle Bachelet is affiliated with the New Majority party, so I bet that the next president will have ties to the Alliance.

Always politics

The political system in Chile is set up very similar to the political system of the United States. They believe in the separation of power and a system of checks and balances. However, this sparks interest because of the conflict the Chilean government had with the U.S. political system in 1833 while implementing their own constitution.

The Chilean government is broken up into a binomialism between the Executive and Legislative powers. The Judiciary power is independent of the Executive and Legislative powers. Breaking each up, the Executive power is used by by the presidential cabinet. The Legislative power is granted to the National Congress, which is made up of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. While each have their own jurisdiction, it was not until 2005 when president Ricardo Lagos implemented specific acts into the constitution that helped form a checks and balance system. He eliminated senators having a seat for life, gave the Executive power the ability to remove commanders-in-chief from the armed forces, and reduced the presidential term from six years to four while getting rid of immediate re-election.

Chile also has institutions in place that help make the flow of the constitution reasonable and keeps people in check. There is the Constitutional Tribunal, the Cosena, and the Central Bank. All three of these powers where included in the revision of the 1980 constitution. Each making the political system of Chile a bit more like that of the United States. The Constitutional Tribunal is there to make final any matters pertaining to the constitution, like the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cosena is in charge of national security, like the NSA here in the states. Finally, the Central Bank is almost exactly like the Federal Reserve in that it is in charge of printing money and regulating its flow.

I decided to focus on the make-up of the political system of Chile for this week because of our review of the political systems we did in class. Also, while studying abroad there I found it extremely interesting that the system of Chile was so similar to the United States. It was one part of the culture that I was able to comprehend quickly and feel comfortable with.

Democracy

In class this week, we spent a hefty amount of time on the idea of democracy and how the quality of it plays an important role in that of the government. The required reading for this week stated that there is six requirements that a government must meet in order to follow the foundation of democracy. It first must hold free, fair, and frequent elections. It needs an effective government, access to an alternative source of information, and the right to assemble. Lastly, there needs to be freedom of expression and citizenship must be inclusive, excluding barriers for political participation.

According to dictionary.com, the definition of democracy follows closely to the requirements listed above. It states that democracy means a government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. 

In Chile, the quality of democracy may be slightly different than one would think. Let’s take one requirement at a time. Chilean elections are free and are not controlled by the government. There is a time frame for how long a government position can be help for, so they are also held frequent enough. In accordance to the second requirement, the government must be effective. I personally believe that this cannot be measured because utopian societies do not exist, someone is always unhappy. When it comes to an alternative source of information, the Chilean government does not hinder the population’s ability to obtain it. They also do not stop the right to assemble, however if an assembly gets violent or somewhat out of control, the police hold the responsibility to shut the protests down. Freedom of expression is not hindered by the government, but it is by society. Personal experience of living in the country taught me that it is less than proper to talk down upon particular political or social matters in certain company. Lastly is the notion of inclusive citizenship and political barriers. Chile does indeed have laws regarding the immigration of certain people into the country and who may run for particular positions in government.

Cuba, United States, and Chile

In class this week we focused heavily on the Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro, the communist leader, headed the revolt with strong goals of changing the national and international aspects of the Cuban government. He did just that and it has had long repercussions since. The Cuban and United States relationship has been severely strained and less than civil. This has not only affected those two countries, but also other Latin American countries.

In terms of Chile, the group known as the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, or MIR, took notes from the Cuban Revolution and used them to aid their goal of overthrowing President Allende in the 1960s. Their use of terror was largely influenced by the Castro regime.

Chile has always been an ally for the United States. However, the strain between Cuba and the U.S. has been scrutinized by the Chilean government for years. Until recent events between the two enemies, Chile has always taken a stand against the United States government stating it opposed the sanctions they imposed. The recent acts taken towards healing the Cuban and United States relationship, I hope that other nations will take consideration and try to do the same.

9-11

In the United States, us citizens have faced horrific events throughout our history, including the attack on the twin towers in New York City on September 11, 2001. Although this was a life-changing event for millions of people in the United States, this can also be said for all the Chilean people on September 11, 1973. Every citizen’s life in Chile was changed and this day will forever alter the history of this country.

Two months into my study abroad on September 11th, I did a presentation in my history class where my teacher asked me to speak about 9/11 in New York City to my fellow classmates. I began to explain to them about how gruesome this day was in the United States and how it altered our viewpoints on terrorism, but, little did I know about the 1973 Chilean coup d’état. On September 11, 1973 in Chile, there was political unrest between the Congress of Chile and President Salvador Allende, and also the President of the United States as the time, Richard Nixon. This day brought bloodshed and death swept over the entire country.

As a socialist, Salvador Allende became president in the 1970 election. In 1972, the economics minister created monetary policies that would later cause a black market, in which led to a rapid decline in the economy. The import and export tariffs of copper skyrocketed. After many strikes involving business men and unions, the president’s Popular Unity coalition and the Christian Democrats relationship ended. The president overthrew many companies, including United States owned companies and turned them over to government control. Due to this, many Chilean citizens faced the dreadful idea that their financial situations would be shot down, and they began to withdraw all of their savings.

In August 1973, the Supreme Court criticized about how the Allende Government did not live up to and enforce the law of the land and they accused Allende of unconstitutional acts, which led to the attack.

At approximately 9:00am, with the refusal by Allende to resign, the Carabineros troops attacked the Presidential Palace, the La Moneda, and began warfare. It was later discovered that President Allende committed suicide during the bombings. In the months following, the military killed thousands of “leftists”, and arrested hundreds of thousands, which most were later discovered dead. The government was forever changed in the following months of the attack, and to this day, the Chileans remember this deadly day.

Although we faced a day in our history here in the United States that changed our country entirely as a whole, Chileans share the same day in 1973 that changed their country, economically and politically, and will forever alter the way Chileans view their history all together.

All for one!

But not one for all. The idea of populism is based on the political doctrine that appeals to the interests and conceptions (such as hopes and fears) of the general people, especially contrasting those interests with the interests of the elite. For Chile, this ideology was found in the presidency of Salvador Allende. He was the 28th present elected, in November 1970. His idea was to gather the population against the elite foreigners that had made stake in the economy through industries.

He wanted an equal distribution of wealth between the lower and upper classes and worked towards making the industries nation based. The idea was one that made a majority of the population happy, and while it worked for a while, there were downfalls to the practice. Since Allende wanted to rid the nation of the developed nation’s influence, he rose import tariffs on international goods and nationalized the industries. The Chilean people found themselves happy for a change with the government and their president. However, when the industries started to over-produce, they needed to expand outside of Chile. The international market was the only way they were going to continue to make money off of their industries, but with the high tariffs, it made it hard.

Allende only stayed in office for 3 years before he was killed in a military coup backed by the CIA. His death allowed for the recognition of favoritism he had for the urban areas, rather then the countryside.

Who run the world?

Girls! Chile has always been praised for the way almost everything is handled. Yes there have been a few select moments in her history that were not so pretty, but overall she is a great, well rounded country. For this particular post, I am going to focus on the history of women’s rights in Chile and how it has played a part in almost every aspect of her culture now.

Women were given the right to vote in 1931 and 1949. Yes, they were given the right for a quick minute, then it was taken away, then given back. During this era, there were fierce protests. Then, during the reign of dictator Pinochet, not only were women not allowed to vote, their legal rights started slipping away also. It was not until the return of democracy in 1990 when women finally started seeing changes in their lives and in the role they played in society. With such a long period of suppression, when the women got their voice back, they were screaming! Chile one of the first countries to have elected a female president.

For most of their history, Chilean women worked as house wives and caregivers. Since most of the Chilean population was (and still is) Catholic, the women did what they could to be like the Virgin Mary. It was not until the feminist movement when they determined that the Catholic religion did not only want women to be mothers, that it said they should be equal to their husbands.

In today’s society, women are a large part of the work force. They have important roles in all aspects of the economy. While it is still believed that they children should not be left home alone, instead of the mothers staying home, nannies are hired to raise the children while the mothers are at work. However, this is a job, it is not done for free like it once was.

The literacy rate of women in Chile is only .2% behind that of men who rank at 95.8%! In terms of salary, men and women are not yet equal. Women make 40 cents per dollar that a man makes (please note that this have been changed from the Chilean peso to dollars for convenience and better understanding).

Trade, trade and more trade

Chile has always been seen as a effective example for an economic structure in Latin America. During the wars of independence, the economy of Chile suffered. There was a lack of focus on the agriculture and mining. After the independence of 1810, Chile immediately started their economic development with free trade. There was a formation of a local business class which has only strived since. Granted there has been moments in Chilean history of depression and repression. In the 1870s there was the Long Depression which included a collapse of the mining industry of copper and saltpeter. The unemployment rose drastically and people were left with nothing. Several instances found people living in caves in the hills surrounding cities. In 1884 the depression ended and the economy started to strive. There was a rapid incline and the country reaped the benefits of free trade. With urbanization and industrialization causing such a boom, there was bound to be a bust. There were several years of a recession at the beginning of the 20th century but industrialization continued to increase. After these small recessions, the country focused on specializing in copper mining. While the agricultural sector has never been top notch, the copper mining is now one of the top in the world. Even with the military dictatorship in the 70s, the economy has been on a slow, steady rise. Today Chile is one of the top economies in Latin America and places  7th on the economic ranking list of all countries, even above the United States. The free trade market of Chile has proven to be exactly what its economy needs to thrive. I do not believe that we will see a decline in its progress any time soon.

Exports

Before getting into the details of the export industries of Chile, I feel it is important to note the history it has faced since the arrival of the Spanish. Since the Spanish came in search of gold, it is obvious that gold was the first mineral taken out of Chile and sent to Peru. However, Chile did not have large gold deposits, so that export soon ceased. With the lack of gold or other desired materials coming from the era, the Spanish implemented trade restrictions which held the economy at a stand still until the early 1800s. The restrictions had the biggest effect of the wine and mining industries. It was not until the ideas of Diego Portales in 1830 that Chile was seen as a stable state open to foreign trade. Since the country has been seen as one of the most stable and prosperous states in South America. Yes the economy has suffered some downfalls but that is to be expected of any economy.

Today, Chile’s main exports include the sectors of agriculture: salmon, forestry, wine, and mining. Chile is the second largest exporter of salmon in the world. The forestry industry in Chile is expanding rapidly each year over the past few years. The wine that is exported out of Chile is, and I do not say this lightly, some of the best there is. I have visited several wineries and had the pleasure of trying wines from all over the world, and it really is incredible. Mining is not only one of the largest sectors of exports but it is also one of the largest sectors of the labor force. The Chilean copper industry produces 1/3 of the entire world’s copper.

The five top countries that Chile exports to (in order of largest percentage to smallest) are China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.

Mapuche forever

The lust for gold and silver was always a high priority for the Spanish colonizers, but they understood that the true wealth of the New World consisted of large indigenous populations. Disengaging in physical labor themselves, they exploited indigenous peoples, by which the Crown had granted individual Spaniards rights to do so. This system was established in northern Chile where the indigenous populations were easily controlled, ironically because they were highly organized and more accustomed to similar forms of exploitation.

The Spaniards also established dominance in central Chile, but the nomadic peoples of the south held their ground and fought ruthlessly to keep their homes.  Even into the late 19th century the area remained unsafe for white settlers. The Mapuche had tamed the feral horses and they soon became expert riders, which increased their mobility and enhanced their ability to strike.

In 1553, the Mapuche people took out Valdivia, the Spanish colonizer that was making his way through the lands of Chile. Their efforts we a success but Valdivia had already managed to set up colonies spreading from the northern boarder of Peru until much past present day Santiago. The uprisings continued until 1558 when the Spanish realized the Mapuche were not going to give up their territory without a continuous fight.

Still to this day the Mapuche people live in the south of Chile on the same land their ancestors fought for. There has even been some conflict in recent years between the Mapuche tribe and the government of Chile.