The ghost of Pinochet returns to Chile 35 years later

It doesn't seem true, but reality always prevails and the far right won the elections in Chile with 58% of the votes, with a candidate, José Antonio Kast, son of a former Nazi soldier who had fled to the South American country.

I have always admired Salvador Allende and the "Chilean road to socialism," which linked a Marxist analysis of society and the inequalities generated by capitalism with the construction of a social welfare state that scrupulously respected democracy. This stood in contrast to the one-party system and Soviet hegemony of the so-called "real socialist" countries.

We all remember how Allende's government ended and the reforms that he had barely begun on that September 11, 1973, in another 9/11 that meant the defeat of so many hopes and dreams of freedom.

Nor should we forget that Pinochet's rise to power led to the implementation of a macabre laboratory of practices that has become the current neoliberalism, which has created veritable monsters against public services and the state as guarantor of basic social rights, such as Milei or José Antonio Kast himself.

How is it possible that the far right won in Chile?

According to analysts, Kast has gained strength by focusing on two issues that, unfortunately, are also present in the political debate in Spain and the Balearic Islands, and which the far right and its media mouthpieces know how to exploit very well: a hardline stance on immigration and insecurity. With these two mantras, the headquarters of the far-right is already overflowing with ammunition.

How often do we see, for example, regional television news programs beginning with the arrival of migrant boats on our shores? How frequently do we hear elected officials from Vox talking about the dangers posed by unaccompanied minors and the resources we allocate to them? Or people close to us, even neighbors, complaining that the health center is overcrowded and full of people from other countries with a huge number of children?

Not to mention the avalanche of attempts by certain media outlets to link crime with migrants, or to suggest that your daughter is more likely to be raped with all these newcomers on our streets. Incidentally, I recently completed a training course, and the vast majority of sexual assaults and gender-based violence occur with people in the victim's immediate circle; you don't have to look for them in places south of the Strait of Gibraltar or in marginalized areas.

This rhetoric has also reached the municipality of Manacor. Just look at how Vox never participated in the November 25th institutional declaration against gender violence, or the contempt with which they treat newly arrived migrants who have risked their lives at sea. We don't need to look that far; as Llach would say, "they are here among us"; let's not forget that. The same applies to the electoral growth prospects in Catalonia for a force like Aliança Catalana. The far-right's alliance of hate is making its way and colonizing everything it encounters, without distinction, across the globe.

A courageous and transformative left is needed

The other reason for the far right's victory is the left's lack of decisiveness, courage, and firmness when in government, something that has happened with Boric's presidency in Chile. When left-wing options hesitate and fail to address the problems of the working class that placed their trust in them, when they don't dare to confront the structural causes of inequality, they lose support by failing to meet the expectations they created.

In the case of the Balearic Islands, the government acted indecisively and timidly on issues such as reducing tourism, improving access to housing, and promoting the Catalan language. Pedro Sánchez's government is facing a critical situation, battered by corruption and allegations of sexual harassment, which it can only reverse with bold measures that genuinely contribute to improving the lives of the majority of the population who turned their backs on the People's Party and Vox in July 2023.

We learn from life's lessons: in Chile, Pinochet's heirs, Allende's murderers, have returned. We will not allow neo-Francoists, nostalgic for the man who was, in the words of Joan Brossa, "the oldest dictator in Europe," to govern 50 years later.