On the 11th of April, in the first year of our reign. An executive from a plural coalition that brings together different political trajectories, which was supported by 558% of the electorate in the second round, in the presidential elections with the largest number of votes in our history. Today, after one year of government, we confirm our commitment: to fulfill the democratic mandate of a just, safe and supportive Chile.
We assume a government with a socially fractured and distrustful of representative institutions, the most recent sign of which was the social upheaval of 2019. And we inherited a society recovering after two years of the pandemic, with all its consequences: economic vulnerability, precarious life and negative effects on the mental health of the population.
Even today, we live in a more impatient society that demands rapid change, that does not always want to adapt to the times and political parsimony, and we must respond to this new society. Citizens and citizens demand transformations, but also, to make these happen by giving certainty and reducing uncertainty.
The North towards which our government is looking is the Chilean people supported by the popular vote, laying the foundations of the welfare state, taking care of the economic, social and individual insecurities that people face in their daily lives, here and now. .
In our country, the constitutional process to change the Augusta Pinochet Constitution continues. On the 7th of May, the 50 constitutional conventions responsible for drafting the new constitution will be fully and democratically elected. Today, a group of experts appointed by Congress is working on the constitutional draft, but in the end it will be who will have the final word through the plebiscite.
Several questions cross the constitutional debate, but which has the main priority to establish a democratic and social state of law, which leaves the minimal and subsidiary state that has governed us until now and this has meant the unstable and abandonment of great things. sectors of our society.
In the same direction, he proposed the program of our government to build a social security system, which surpasses the individual unitary model (AFP), and significantly increases pensions; we recognize health as a social right guaranteed by the state; and advances in the creation of a care system that recognizes and contributes public resources to this invisible role, which is generally performed by women without remuneration. Chile also needs to move towards a new social and tax pact that provides a basis for justice and mutual solidarity that allows everyone to feel part of the same community.
These fundamental and structural changes must be accompanied by a rapid and efficient management of the daily needs of the people. This is why my government made a special effort to fight inflation, and we started to break it. The law against organized crime was recently approved to make criminal activity more complex and violent. We are promoting a special plan on reclaiming public spaces, giving neighborhoods and cities back to their inhabitants. The fact that people seem to us to be alive and secure gives us the right to exercise other liberties.
I look forward to the best future for Chili. We will soon announce a national lithium policy, which means that the state will assume the leading role in the exploration and exploitation of this non-metallic mineral, in collaboration with the private sector. This project is a continuation of a long mining tradition. the farm that started with nitrate moved to copper and today will be with lithium. We have the second largest lithium reserve in the world and our task is to become the largest lithium producer on a planetary scale in the medium term.
For our world government means the intrusion of a new generation. Many will come from social struggles. The new political forces that today are articulated with other historical ones. Ours is not a generational discussion, since we recognize that in our long history previous generations have given to make Chile a better, more beautiful and more popular society. We are a new left, but with roots in the history of Chile.
This year in Chile, 50 years of the military action of 1973 are commemorated: we have defined three concepts that will guide this year’s commemoration: Memory, Democracy and the Future. I want to foresee the future, but this through memory, he learns from the past. We want to confront Chile again in its unanimous and cross-cutting human rights violations. No political difference is explained or justified by the rights and dignity of others. This year we have a duty to confirm: the goal of political action is to respect human rights.
Today, Latin America is moving in the direction of changing governments. The conditions for economic and political integration give us an opportunity to build again so that we don’t miss it. We can give Latin America its voice in the world for peace and fair globalization that preserves our empire.
But today in Latin America and in the world there are also hidden forces of intolerance and hatred. In times of historical crisis populism and fascism have emerged as alternatives. Forces that refer to democracy, social rights, women’s rights and sexual diversity, to the cultural heritage of our peoples. They tend to wear false clothes of nationalism and patriotism. The unity between the democratic and civil minorities that allow us to stop the development of these forces is a task of the greatest importance in the world and on our continent, and it must call and unite all peoples beyond the right and the left.
Chile was not and is not an oasis, as some in my country a few days before the social upheaval of 2019. New and old injustices cross our roads, which we are going to pass the government. But Chile is also a solid country that addresses issues and differences from the institution, with dialogue, respect for the rule of law, greater democracy and no less.
We have done our little part of the journey. We have three years ahead of us. Overcoming daily insecurities, imposing the pillars of the state, inclusive economic growth, recovery, strengthening our democracy and culture of human rights, are the great challenges that lie ahead. After conquering that horizon, of a better future for Chile, I put all my energy and work without rest.
Gabriel Boric Font president of Chile.
