Dr. Michelle Bachelet likely Victor In Chile's Dec. 11
Presidential Election.
Brian McAfee brimac6@hotmail.com
Dr. Michelle Bachelet likely Victor In Chile's Dec. 11
Presidential Election.
Chile's Socialist party's presidential candidate, Dr Michelle
Bachelet, stands poised to be the next president of Chile. She
has a significant lead in the polls, and if there is a run-off
election she is expected to still be the victor. Her closest
opponent, Joaquin Lavin, a conservative, trails well behind her.
Dr Bachelet endured numerous personal tragedies in the years of
Pinochet's coup. Her father, Alberto Bachelet, an airforce
general loyal to president Salvador Allende, was tortured to
death in 1974 by DINA, Pinochet's secret police. In 1975 both
then 23 year old medical student, Michelle Bachelet, and her
mother, Angela Jeria, were kidnapped from their home by a gang
of DINA men. Both were tortured and deprived of food and water.
Because of intervention by some top military officials, the two
women escaped execution and were instead exiled to Australia
Under the junta. Many women and girls were raped, tortured, and
executed. Most of the perpetrators remain unpunished.
Bachelet and her mother spent almost 5 years in Australia, then
she returned to Chile to do clandestine human rights work. She
also became a medical doctor. Democracy was restored in Chile in
1988. As a politically active outspoken critic of the U.S.
supported facist dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Bachelet
became president Ricardo Lagos's choice to head the national
ministry of health. She served in this capacity from March of
2000 then in a stunning move, President Lagos appointed her
defense minister in 2002. As a former victim of military crimes,
this move signaled a complete overhaul of Chile's military
establishment. While she endorsed efforts to prosecute officers
for their crimes against the civilian population, she obtained
and continues to have the respect of the majority of the
military and their families. There were over 3,000 murdered by
the junta during the Pinochet years, a national wound that has
not yet healed. "There was a group of Pinochet supporters who
thought when the wives of the disappeared died off, the problem
will die with it," Bachelet said, "But their children and
grandchildren have taken up the flag."
Despite the harsh realities of the past, the current president
Ricardo Lagos as well as his likely successor, Dr. Bachelet,
have their vision set firmly on the future, dealing with the
current complexities of the economy, social issues, and the
environment.