The Chilean president told ‘El País’ that on the island “there is no democracy,” there is “a single-party regime” and “there is no freedom of expression.”
MIAMI, United States. – The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, stated that “from any point of view” Cuba’s political system “is a dictatorship,” in an interview published last Sunday by the Spanish newspaper The Country.
When asked if it was more difficult for him to condemn the Cuban regime, Boric responded: “It doesn’t bother me at all. Cuba is experiencing a very similar situation.” [a la de Venezuela]. Today in Cuba there is a shortage of food, medicine and it is difficult to get around by transportation, an important part of the young people have left. It is very clear that in Cuba there is no democracy, it is a single-party regime, there is no freedom of expression. That from any point of view is a dictatorship. The first responsibility lies with those who govern Cuba, although the effects of the blockade cannot be denied.”
The statements provoked a public reaction from the president of the Communist Party of Chile, Lautaro Carmona. As reported The Clinicasked directly if he shared Boric’s statement, Carmona replied: “I don’t share it. It is a democracy appropriate to its history and development that it has as an option today.”
In a similar vein, Carmona defended the existence of political freedoms in Cuba and stressed that his party does not seek to transfer that model to Chile. In statements collected by Cooperativemaintained that “saying that one has a relationship of friendship, of valuing what the Cuban process is, does not mean that one is postulating for Chile a proposal the same as that of Cuba, because Chile is another country,” and added: “It catches my attention that it is proposed that there is no right to expression. They have a political system and there is a right to expression, what happens is that they are not going to accept that foreign capitals do what they want.”
In the same report, the minister spokesperson Camila Vallejo remarked: “You know that I am not a spokesperson for the PC, I am a spokesperson for the Government, and in that the line has been clear: the president sets foreign policy,” and added that “the opinions of the parties are those of the parties.”
Boric, whose term ends on March 11, will be replaced by the right-wing José Antonio Kast, who won against the communist Jeannette Jara in the second round.
Kast’s victory ends four years of the left in power. Although Jara defeated Kast in the first round with 26.6% of the votes against 23.9%, analysts and polls indicated that the right could win by gathering support from other conservative candidates.
“I want you to know that as president of the Republic I will always be available to collaborate for the country,” Boric told the winner of the elections on national television.
