news’s interview with President Boric

The Chilean president spoke of global conflicts. He indicated that “the State of Israel is permanently and almost naturally violating international law” and again condemned Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and said that the Ukrainian government “has offered ( ) support in demining tasks once the war is over.” Asked about the possibility of resuming full relations with Bolivia, the head of the Chilean Executive pointed out that “the possibility ( ) is rather in the field of Bolivia.” He again questioned the Venezuelan authorities and pointed out that “in Venezuela the institutions ( ) are clearly deteriorated.” Commenting, with the German media, on the announcement of the expropriation of Colonia Dignidad, he stated that “we will do everything to protect the right of the victims to feel part of the reparation process and to prevent re-victimization.” Regarding the outlook for his administration, Boric said, “I am more concerned about how we fulfill our commitments than how I will be remembered. What I hope is to deliver a better country than the one we received, with a strengthened democracy.”

“news”. Berlin. 12/6/2024. Gabriel Boric sometimes closes his eyes and seems to search in some corner of his head for an answer that does not sound like those learned speeches so common among politicians. “On our part there is no naivety: in Venezuela the institutions, at least within the framework of the rule of law that we have in Chile, are clearly deteriorated,” he answers when he has to talk about the diplomatic impasse that confronts Santiago with Caracas. The young president of Chile (38 years old) is on a tour of Europe with a first stop in Berlin, where he met with the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. After a stop in Munich, he will also visit Sweden, Switzerland and France. In the midst of a hectic agenda, he grants an exclusive interview to news where he talks about current political events.

How important is the relationship with Germany for Chile, President Boric?

Chile is a country open to the world. In recent decades, we have significantly diversified our relations with the entire planet, but we maintain ties with our traditional partners, such as the EU. The fact that Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits our country and that we are later invited to an official visit to Germany demonstrates the importance of Chile in the international arena. We have discussed various issues of economic, scientific, technological, human rights cooperation…

Let’s talk about human rights. During your address to the nation on June 1, you announced the expropriation of some land in Colonia Dignidad. What role does Germany play in this?

I was surprised that the first time I met with Chancellor Scholz, he mentioned the subject to me. There is a concern on the part of Germany to make up for the tolerance that was shown towards this enclave in Chile, a profoundly dark, authoritarian place, which we have defined as the epitome of evil, where there was semi-slavery and sexual abuse, in addition to human rights violations in the context of the Chilean dictatorship. The long-awaited reparation, the recognition of what happened there, so resisted by sectors of the Chilean right, is something important, and that is why a joint commission was formed between the German Government and the Chilean Government that is finally yielding results. We have made the decision to move forward with the expropriation of a sector of Colonia Dignidad to create a memory centre and a documentation centre regarding what happened there. And the German Government, as Chancellor Scholz explicitly said, is actively collaborating with this, both by providing documents and facilitating the entire process, and eventually even lending resources.

There are lawyers for the victims of Colonia Dignidad who maintain that this money will end up in the hands of the heirs of the leaders of the enclave. Has that been considered?

Criminal responsibilities are individual and not hereditary. But beyond that, what I think is important is that it is recognized that what happened there must never happen again and that the whole truth is known. We will do everything to protect the victims’ right to feel part of the reparation process and to prevent re-victimization.

I know it’s ugly to talk about figures, but how much do expropriations cost?

When it comes to human rights and memory, I think that numbers are not relevant. It is never expensive, at least from my point of view, to invest in strengthening democracy and human rights.

Another important element of his visit to Germany is lithium.

The conversation I had with Chancellor Scholz was very positive in this regard. There is an active interest on the part of Germany, not merely declarative, in boosting its investments in our country, which have been more or less stable over the last decade and which I believe have a very significant growth potential, particularly in industries such as lithium, moving towards more complex investments.

Weapons for Ukraine?

Among the activities that the Chilean president will have in Europe is his attendance at the Summit for Peace in Ukraine, which will be held in Switzerland with the presence of dozens of heads of state and government. There, Boric will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. Santiago has shown clear support for kyiv in the conflict. The question that arises is whether it is in Chile’s interest to enter into this dispute.

“Humanity is one, and the shared rules that we have had after the massacres and barbarities that have occurred in our history compel us to speak up when there are violations of those shared principles,” says Boric. “If friendly countries had asked themselves whether it was convenient for them to express their solidarity with Chile when we were living through dark and horrific times during the dictatorship, we surely would not have received as much solidarity as we did. I believe that this cannot be evaluated in utilitarian terms, but in terms of principles, and Chile’s position, which is highly respected internationally, is to defend principles, not short-term profits,” he adds.

It is striking that a leftist president like you takes this position, considering the positions of countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua and even Brazil.

It is very rare to find close ties on these issues. In Europe, it is the far-right parties that are closest to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But this should not be measured by a kind of geometric line of political divisions, but in terms of principles, and what we demand is respect for international law and the unrestricted defense of human rights. I believe that this position enhances Chile and allows us not to have a double standard in a matter that is so deeply felt by our people. We – as a medium-sized country – know that the main guarantee for our own existence is precisely respect for international law, and therefore, what we have demanded in every conflict, and in particular in this case that you ask me about the war between Russia and Ukraine, is respect for international law, which has evidently been violated by an invading country.

Chile has 200 Leopard 2 tanks, which are what Ukraine needs to defend itself from the Russian attack. Has President Zelensky never asked for weapons?

We have discussed this and we have conveyed to President Zelensky that Chile, due to internal legislation but also out of conviction, will not collaborate with weapons in armed conflicts. We have offered other forms of collaboration, such as support in demining tasks once the war is over. This is something we have experience in. In addition, we have made material contributions and provided support in all multilateral spaces on such sensitive issues as the recovery of children who have been taken hostage by Russia.

Let’s talk about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Doesn’t it work against you to adopt such a pro-Palestinian stance?

It is a position that, from my point of view, is consistent with Chile’s historical position of recognizing the right of the Palestinian State to exist, the right of the two States to exist as sovereign States with secure borders. What we have said is that we are not willing to choose between barbarism, and as we condemn without any kind of nuance or shadow of doubt the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas and the capture of hostages, and we demand their release, we are also able to say very clearly that what the Israeli Army is doing in Gaza is a brutality that has characteristics of genocide, and that is why we have supported South Africa’s claim before the International Court of Justice.

But there is also a long-standing problem here, where the State of Israel is permanently and almost naturally violating international law by not respecting the borders recognized in 1967, by continuing to promote the establishment of colonies in the West Bank and in particular with the massacre that it is carrying out in Gaza, where more than 36,000 people have already died, many of them women and children, who are sadly the protagonists of a conflict for which they are not responsible. As I said, we defend principles, and in this case, the most basic principle, the right to life, is being flagrantly violated by the Government of Israel, as the vast majority of the international community has denounced.

Are you not afraid of importing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to Chile with your statements? There, these communities usually coexist without any major problems.

The easiest thing to do is always to remain silent. Just as we appreciate the solidarity shown to Chile when human rights were violated in our country, we feel that the least we can do is to give back to the people that same consideration when the same thing happens in their countries. In no way do I regret having a clear position on this issue.

Relations with Bolivia? Of course!

In March 1978, Bolivia decided to break diplomatic relations with Chile, after the failure of negotiations to end Bolivia’s landlocked status. It is a curious case, where neighbors with a strong exchange of borders and growing security challenges do not have ambassadors. At the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, in 2004, the then Chilean president Ricardo Lagos even offered, almost shouting, “diplomatic relations here and now” to his Bolivian counterpart, Carlos Mesa. He had no luck.

President Boric, does your government plan to resume diplomatic relations with Bolivia?

The possibility of resuming diplomatic relations is more in Bolivia’s camp. I have expressed to President Luis Arce my willingness to move forward in that direction. I understand that it is more complicated for them. We, to the extent that the integrity of our territory is recognized, would be delighted to move forward towards normalizing relations with a sister country like Bolivia. I am totally available to have that conversation, and if there is a reciprocal will, we could move forward without any doubt.

Argentina has just bought F-16 planes, there is an underlying dispute over the sovereignty of Antarctica and even President Javier Milei signed an agreement to produce weapons with Ukraine… Aren’t you worried about the possible militarization of your neighbor?

Look, Argentina and I share more than 3,000 kilometers of border and a common history. I am very clear that my presidency and that of the Argentine president will pass, but our institutions, and above all our people, will remain. I am not going to contribute to straining relations with a sister country. Chile is not in any arms race and Chile has a very clear Antarctic vocation, we demonstrated this with the visit of the Secretary General of the United Nations through Chile to Antarctica in the framework of the last COP. Antarctica is a continent of science and peace and Chile will continue to assert its claims in Antarctica precisely for that, so that it continues to be a continent of science and peace.

“The Venezuelan authorities have been irresponsible”

On June 5, Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that the murder of opposition leader Ronald Ojeda, a former member of the Venezuelan Armed Forces who was killed in Santiago by men who were believed to be in Venezuelan territory, according to the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office, was in fact perpetrated by “Chilean agents.” The government of Gabriel Boric filed a protest note and there was speculation about the possibility of breaking diplomatic relations.

“In international politics, I believe that the most important thing is to obtain results, and results are generally obtained by talking and not by breaking up; they are obtained by building bridges and not walls. Having said that, I consider that the declarations of the Venezuelan authorities in general have been irresponsible. Today there is an international arrest warrant for the criminals who murdered former lieutenant Ojeda, and therefore Venezuela has the obligation to contribute to their capture in the event that these people were in Venezuelan territory. Here, on our part, there is no naivety: in Venezuela the institutions, at least within the framework of the rule of law that we have in Chile, are clearly deteriorated and we are a serious country, a responsible country, we trust in the work carried out by our Public Ministry, and we support the actions of the Chilean Justice system,” says Boric.

There are two years left in your government. What do you have planned from now on?

We received a country where insecurity and crime were on the rise, particularly homicides, and we have managed to break that trend; a country where the economy was absolutely overheated, with inflation of around 14 percent, and we managed to bring it down to 4 percent; a country where growth was stagnant, and this year we have managed to get the economy to take off; a country where we have also reduced poverty figures to levels even lower than pre-pandemic figures. Obviously, we continue to have many challenges, in particular improving the pensions of our elderly, improving the health system and changing the development model that our country has had, in particular promoting industry based on the tremendous opportunities that Chile has in non-conventional renewable energy, lithium, green hydrogen and copper.

How do you want to be remembered when your term ends, President?

Ask me that in the last month of my government. Now I am more concerned about how we fulfill our commitments than how I will be remembered. What I hope is to deliver a better country than the one we received, with a strengthened democracy. In recent decades, Chile has managed to resolve its differences through democratic mechanisms and not through institutional breakdowns, and that is tremendously positive. And now we are also going to grow economically, and therefore we will be able to distribute the wealth that we all generate more fairly. I believe that this will be very important when evaluating the results of our government.

Photo: Presidency of the Republic.