Dr. Elahe Noori Gholamizade in an interview with the site of Strategic Council on Foreign Relations referred to the victory of Gabriel Boric, leftist president elect of Chile and emphasized that the developments of the country should be analyzed from economic point of view. She stated that:” After the fall of Salvador Allende by Pinochet and 1973 developments of Chile, a neoliberal economic regime was established in the country, and although Pinochet was a dictator and a protégé of the U.S., he planned a very extensive economic program for Chile and thus the country was not affected too much by economic consequences of the then Latin America.

Importance of Economic Issues

Having stated that afterwards Chile turned to become a neoliberal stable economy country with a capitalist system, she added:” the gap between social classes caused by the consequences of capital accumulation, intentionally or unintentionally, is an inherent characteristics of capitalism. Despite enjoying high economic indices, Chile suffers from increasing inequalities”.

Having elaborated the characteristics of politics in Chile, the international analyst said:” After Pinochet was dismissed as a protégé dictator, all political parties that took office in Chile were moderates. If they were rightists they were moderate rightists, and if they were leftists they did not have extremist positions like what we witness in other countries”.

Noori added:” in 2019 when the gap between social classes was revealed in Chile, the society postulated that a person should take office who would be able to restore stability and thus resolve the problems of the country; protests continued even during Coronavirus. In line with this, Gabriel Boric took office as the youngest president in Chile history and a Croat decent person who has a record of students’ protests in competition with other moderate parties and when there was a run-off presidential election, he managed to gain the majority votes although he was far behind his rival during the first round.

The professor of the Faculty of World Studies of Tehran University mentioned Boric victory was made in a situation when moderate and centralist parties were not in strong position. She added:” This made Latin America to practice a new experience in politics; as we witnessed this sort of election in Brazil too, it was expected the ground that was paved in Latin America would receive the Chileans attention too and thus they incline towards left”.

Anti-Zionist Positions of the New Chilean President

Having reminded that Boric has called the Zionist regime as a homicide regime, she continued:” generally, due to her economic and political policies, Chile never took position against the (Zionist) regime and other warmongering regimes. Even on the recent developments of Venezuela, Chile entered into alliances along with Cuba and Bolivia and did not take any strong position on the popular resistance of those countries, but in the leftist framework, Boric needs to follow these issues”.

Noori said:” however, we have not witnessed strong positions from him so far on the U.S. because, restoration of political and economic stability is top priority in the country and Boric attempts to put an end to protests in Chile. In fact, his remarks are not like those of the revolutionary leaders of Cuba or Venezuela who target imperialism and to have hostile positions against the U.S. and the Zionist regime. He knows well that if he enters into tension with the U.S. his country will suffer from problems”.

On the future of the U.S. and Chile relations in view of taking office by a leftist government in the country, the professor of Tehran University noted:” At present situation, we witness that China has been replaced with the U.S. in Chile. Therefore, to what extent Chile and the U.S. enter into tension and how their relations would be influenced when such a personality takes office depend on the direction of economic reforms that Boric had promised during his presidential campaign on issues such as health and education. In fact, it must be noticed whether it would influence the foreign policy of the country or not, and which leftist attitude is going to be adopted by him?”.

Noori reminded that Chile is among those countries that has a large number of Palestinian immigrants, who have even their own football club and team. She continued:” When a president with a leftist attitude takes office, for sure he should attach importance to the demands of this layer of Chilean society. Therefore, relations with the Zionist regime must be analyzed in line with domestic issues and not on the basis of hostile position against the West and the Western governments”.

Latin America the Battlefield of Left & Right

The international analyst underscored that Latin America has become the battlefield of left and right, and various tendencies of right and left have taken office in the regional powers like Argentine, Mexico and Brazil. She added:” the present era is not like pink tide when all countries have inclined towards leftism. Instead, the confrontation of the left and the right has been formed in the region, and this time Chile has inclined towards the leftism. Naturally, when a young president with socialist and leftist causes takes office, this should be analyzed within the framework of regional developments where rightists like Bolsonaro have host their popularity”.

She referred to the economic consequences of Coronavirus in Latin America and said:” what the young president of Chile has so far emphasized was concentrated on national unity, internal political and economic stability. To analyze the foreign policy of the country, the future movements should be studied to see if he enters into direct tensions with the U.S. or not?”

Having said that the revival of tendency towards socialism and leftism in a neoliberal country of Latin America is noticeable, Noori spelled out:” anyway, the U.S. is a declining power and when the indications of collapse show themselves in its back yard in this way, is another noticeable point”.