On March 11, Gabriel Boric Font will be inaugurated as Chile’s new president. A former student leader, he beat the far-right Republican Party’s José Antonio Kast by a margin of 12 per cent. His mandate is to tackle Chile’s social and economic inequality – the same conditions that led to popular mobilizations in 2019, dubbed ‘El Estallido’ or ‘outbreak’.
Typically, markets responded fearfully to Boric’s progressive agenda in the run-up to the elections – as did conservative sectors of Chilean society, which since 1973 have enjoyed the fruits of privatization. To affect any real social progress, Boric will have to persuade the armed forces and the politically-influential business elite of his agenda.
