Chile’s First Female President

Chile inaugurated its first female president on March 11th. The 54 year-old Socialist pediatrician named Michelle Bachelet won a runoff election on January 15th against her opponent Sebastian Pinera. On hand for the ceremony was the former President Ricardo Lagos, Hugo Chavez and even our own U.S secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who met with President Bachelet before the ceremony took place. Condoleezza told television reporters that she expects U.S-Chile relations to remain close under the new president as they have been in the past.
Bachelet swore in 20 members of her cabinet, ten men and ten women as she wanted to have equal numbers of men and women to support her presidency. Bachelet is considered more of a leftist than the former president Ricardo Lagos although is she supportive of some of his policies. She is also in favor of the strict fiscal discipline and free market economic policies that Chile currently employs. She also plans on maintaining Lago’s foreign policy, including its relationship with the U.S. since the countries signed a free-trade accord. Michelle Bachelet has endured a lot in her life to get to where she is now. She is the daughter of an air force general who was tortured and sadly died in prison for opposing the 1973 military coup that was led by General Augusto Pinochet. She was still in her mid 20’s when she was imprisoned and tortured along with her mother for a short time. Then they had no choice but to go into exile. She is also a single mother of three. Condoleezza Rice stated that her election was a triumph of democracy.
The people of Venezuela seem to be enthusiastic about the election and are eager to see what awaits their future as Bachelet goes into office for the next
four years. It is indeed a very encouraging thing to see a woman elected as president in Chile. If only the U.S could follow their lead.