The Alameda was packed. Last night the section that goes from the University of Chile to Salvador hosted thousands of people who came out to celebrate the triumph of Gabriel Boric. There, in the same streets that he traveled numerous times in his role as university student leader, he gave his first speech as President-elect, the second youngest in the world – at 35 years old – and validated by the highest number of votes in the history of the country. and with the greatest citizen participation.
In the midst of flags, chants and honks, Boric appeared among the crowd, on a path that the assistants opened for him to reach the papal fences that separated the audience from the stage located on the corner with Santa Rosa. He climbed the fences, waved his hand, and the “rockstar” was greeted by people on the other side. Minutes later he took the stage and began to read part of what he wrote on the plane he took from Punta Arenas to Santiago.
“Good evening, Chile. Po nui, suma aruma, pun may Chile,” Boric opened. Thus, his first gesture was for the native peoples. “Po nui”, good night in the Rapa Nui language; “suma aruma”, good night in Aymara language; and “pun may”, good night in mapudungun. He thanked those who voted and “the people who wanted to attend to vote and could not due to the lack of public transportation,” adding that “it cannot happen again.”
A relevant point was the prominence given to boys and girls, who, he said, are usually outside the speeches, a point that the defender of Children, Patricia Muñoz, had insistently made. “I want to especially thank the boys and girls who filled us with affection on this trip, who filled us with beautiful drawings that innocently expressed the Chile and the hope of the Chile they aspire to. A green Chile and a Chile of love,” he said. .
As he did during the campaign, and which was an important counterpoint that he made with his former contender José Antonio Kast, he emphasized the importance of women, dissidents and diversities: “Count on us, you will be the protagonists of our Government”, stressed.
“I have spoken with the families and we know what we have to do,” Boric also said before the public slogan on “freedom for prisoners to fight,” referring to the prisoners of the social outbreak. “No more AFPs,” the attendees also shouted, and the elected President affirmed that they will defend a public system.
He thanked his campaign manager, Izkia Siches, “who played it practically throughout the country.” The work of the former president of Colmed was immediate as soon as she joined the command, and in the first days she highlighted the campaign in the north of the country, such as in Arica, her hometown, in which Boric achieved a narrow advantage over Kast, where the leader of the Republican Party won in the first round. That is why in the command there is a positive assessment of the Izkia Siches factor as one of the most popular figures of the team, who managed in part “to change the course of the votes in Boric’s favor faster.”
Among the various winks he had in his speech as President-elect, was the reaffirmation of a kind of reconciliation with the former Concertación. “I am clear that history does not start with us, I feel like heir” to a historical trajectory. He spoke of “the big family” as a space that encompasses the broad spectrum of opposition in the midst of a change in the “historical” cycle.
But he also made reference to two former presidents of the left and center-left. He did it with Salvador Allende, when he called for them to “go home with the healthy joy of the clean victory achieved”, verbatim words that Allende also pronounced in his speech as President-elect, in 1970.
He also did it with DC Patricio Aylwin, when he thanked his former contestants Yasna Provoste, Sebastián Sichel, Marco Enríquez-Ominami, Franco Parisi, Eduardo Artés and “José Antonio Kast. Yes, also José Antonio Kast”, he said in the middle of boos. Very similar to what Aylwin expressed when he assumed as President of the transition and thanked everyone, including civilians and the military. “Yes, compatriots. Civil or military, Chile is one,” Aylwin said on the occasion. Boric, more than 30 years after that triumph, added that with Kast “I know that we will know how to build bridges so that our compatriots can live better.”
Among his lines he also highlighted that “with us, the people enter La Moneda” and that “never, for any reason, can we have a President again who declares war on his own people”, alluding to the current President, Sebastián Piñera .
What’s coming
In fact, today Gabriel Boric plans to meet at 2:00 p.m. with President Piñera in La Moneda, an appointment that follows a video call that took place yesterday between the President and the elected leader to congratulate him. “I hope we do better,” Boric said in that conversation.
Yesterday the President-elect already had a first meeting with political parties and the political team of the campaign, also a call and a face-to-face meeting with Kast, and the command and I Approve Dignity say that now comes the analysis of the first steps, of the dialogue with the other communities and of the conformation of future Government teams, that is, of the future ministers.
Also yesterday, the directive of the DC in plenary session went to congratulate Boric and they did so through a public statement jointly with the PS, PPD, PR, PL and Nuevo Trato.
In the Christian Democrats they have already said that they will not be part of the Government of Gabriel Boric, however, in the Socialist Party that door is not closed. Some activists and leaders stated that the Government is of Approve Dignity and that it is they who must define what relationship they want to have with the socialists. That is, if they are for a possible alliance or government agreement, they are the ones who should invite the PS. Along these lines, sectors of said community, in a transversal way, agreed that there will be no impediments for socialist militants who are summoned by the new administration, which will not be defined as a constructive opposition, but rather as a collaborative party. Also that, for now, the efforts of the PS are in the progressive alliance with the PPD, the Radical Party, the Liberal Party and the New Deal.
On the other hand, Izkia Siches reiterated yesterday his disposition in case of being summoned to a ministry, although he clarified that this conversation has not yet taken place with the political team of the command.
