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Chile Turns Left: The Foreign Policy Agenda of President Gabriel Boric

28 Jan 2022
By Anton Vilchinskii
Gabriel Boric giving his victory speech at 2021 Chile Presidential Election. Source: Fotografoencampana https://bit.ly/3KXoSUW

In March 2022, Gabriel Boric will take office after winning the Chilean presidential elections in December 2021. What foreign policy priorities will the new government have, and how will they effect Latin America and the Pacific?

Boric, a former student protester and currently a leader of the left-wing party Apruebo Dignidad (Approve Dignity), enjoyed the victory with 55.86 percent of the votes, compared to 44.14 percent obtained by José Antonio Kast, a right-wing lawyer, as the polls closed on 19 December 2021.

The Chilean population expects Boric to execute an overhaul of the current neoliberal economic model that has plummeted the country into inequality and sparked nationwide protests. His promises  are driven by the idea of creating a welfare state. Boric plans to increase taxes on large and wealthy companies, end the current pension scheme, and transform the health system.

Key Strategic Areas of New Foreign Policy

According to Boric’s presidential program, the main directions of his government’s foreign policy will be recovering a multilateralist vision to boost integration in Latin America, promoting democracy and human rights, supporting international law, and increasing cooperation for sustainable development in the Pacific. Senator Juan Ignacio Latorre, a member of Boric’s team who was responsible for external affairs during the campaign, explained that the goal of the new foreign policy course would be, “multilateralism based on human rights and strengthening democracy.” Latorre named three major directions of Boric’s work during his first months in office: the environment, Latin American integration, and multilateralism.

 “Turquoise” Climate Strategy 

In regard to the environment, Boric is eager to portray himself as a Latin American leader in the fight against the climate crisis. Boric advocates for a so-called “turquoise” foreign policy — a two-pronged approach based on “green” policies to combat climate change, and “blue” ones aimed at protecting the oceans.

One of the first measures he is likely to implement is stepping up participation and interaction within the Escazú Agreement — an ambitious environmental justice accord in the region which sets out a concrete framework for cooperation. Chile used to actively participate in its projects, but the outgoing right-wing Sebastián Piñera government slowed it down.

A Shift to the Left

During 2020 and 2021, Latin America experienced a series of changes in leadership. Today, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, and Venezuela have left-wing presidents, while Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Colombia have conservative governments. However, in 2022, Brazilians and Colombians — both key partners of Chile — will have presidential elections where, according to some experts, left-wing candidates will enjoy the upper hand.

Boric’s government should expect more left-wing leaders to take office in 2022. In Brazil, Chile will bet on Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeating the extreme right. In Colombia, Chile would like to see Gustavo Petro as a new leader, and it expects the “Frente Amplio” (Broad Front) political coalition of Uruguay to return to power in the midterm election. Their victories may result in new fruitful links between several progressive government leaders, including Luis Arce in Bolivia, Pedro Castillo in Peru, Alberto Fernández in Argentina, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico. The new Chilean government is likely to seek a higher degree of cooperation throughout the continent when Latin America deals with great powers, in a similar fashion to the Pacific region in its dealings with China and the US.

The plans — if implemented — may contribute to advancing the regional integration that has slowed down in recent years. There were organisations run by the left-wing leaders, such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and by the right-wing ones, such as the Forum for the Progress and Development of South America (PROSUR). Both lost continuity when governments of a different ideology took office.

This phenomenon is increasingly present in the region and complicates relations between the states. Something similar is likely to happen to Chile. Therefore, given this diversity of Latin American progressive projects, along with the presence of the right governments, it is essential for Boric to learn from the mistakes of his predecessors and to seek better coordination between states without relying purely on ideological grounds.

Promoting Multilateralism, Starting From Latin America

Nicolás Maduro, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Daniel Ortega may lose hope: Gabriel Boric is not one of them. The future president of Chile is not going to consider joining the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our Americas. Furthermore, the “Bolivarian axis” has repeatedly been the object of his criticism  for its human rights violations and the absence of political freedoms.

Despite the desire to see more left-wing presidents in the region, Chile’s diplomacy is expected not to be limited only to the governments with similar ideologies. Argentina may also be among its key partners — a close neighbour with which Chile is interested in cultivating amiable relations.

Internal Rifts — A Major Challenge to Chilean New Foreign Policy

Paul J. Angelo, a Latin American studies specialist at the American Council on Foreign Relations, in his Foreign Affairs article published prior to the start of the election, stated that regardless of the winner, Chile’s “polarised elections will jeopardise the country’s role as a mediator in favour of democracy in Latin America.”

During the campaign, internal tensions within the Boric coalition came to light after the Communist Party supported the election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. At that moment, the presidential candidate made a straightforward response to his partners, stressing that his government the commitment to democracy and human rights would be “comprehensive,” without any support for “dictatorships and autocracies.”

This episode reveals that Boric will have balance in his foreign policy planning. On the one hand, Boric is likely to join Argentina and Mexico in fostering regional cooperation with left-wing forces. On the other hand, such projects could embolden rather than isolate Latin American autocrats and motivate them to counterbalance new leftist integration blocs.

Courage and Flexibility Will Make Boric a Good President

Chilean professor of linguistics Saúl Cáceres Araya, in his comment to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, stated that Boric had inherited a challenging set of issues that include dealing with social turmoil and building bridges with neighbouring states amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The internal political landscape of Chile will thus shape the foreign policy planning of Boric’s government.

When center-right forces held power, there was a certain degree of consensus on how to manage foreign relations, but a new scenario of polarisation is likely to change the situation. If there was an ideological distance between Piñera and his predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, then there is a chasm between Boric and Kast. In countries where the government and the opposition belong to completely different ideological extremes, this causes complications for any potential dialogue and decision making. Consequently, foreign policy planning is closely interconnected with domestic issues.

Anton Vilchinskii is a postgraduate researcher of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and expert of the Institute for Contemporary International Studies.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Licence, and may be republished with attribution.