Chile: Implications of La Moneda Leadership in the

Piñera Era, or Will the New Government Mark a

Billionaire’s Flawed Vision in Santiago and a White

House Too Prepared to do Business as Usual with a

Vastly Changed Latin America?

The interim between Chile’s January 17th election and the inauguration of its victor, Sebastian Piñera, on March 11th, provides a useful opportunity to reflect on the course of recent U.S.-Chile relations, and the future prospects for cooperation, given the stand-pat tendencies of both governments. Piñera will be Chile’s first right-of-center president since 1990, elected with 52% of the vote in a runoff election that pitted him against Eduardo Frei Tagle, the candidate selected by the 20-year ruling coalition, Concertación. At the same time in Washington, President Barack Obama appointed Chile-born Arturo Valenzuela as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Such a move should have suggested that Washington was to assume a more serious and complex approach in its regional relations, given Valenzuela’s extensive academic and professional association with Latin America, and in particular, Chile. But following a year of the White House’s sub-par performance in dealing with some of its closest neighbors, the status of the North-South relations remains very much in doubt. Meanwhile, the new Piñera administration which takes office tomorrow gives Obama the opportunity to revisit the U.S. relationship with Chile, one of South America’s stronger democracies. Simultaneously, Piñera has an additional challenge as the first task he must confront on his presidential agenda. After taking office, he must continue working on the massive reconstruction process that was begun right after the devastating earthquake that struck on February 26th.

For full article click here

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Patricia Kehoe