Chile seems to be heading towards an uncertain future. While Mexico decided to elect Mr. Fox who ended the PRI´s 70 year rule, in Chile, the people elected a continuation of the inefficient dinosaur "Concertacion" (like the PRI). While Mexico will grow without boundaries with an efficient rightist government, Chile will probably perform poorly economically as shown so far. Ricardo Lagos is Chile´s new Socialist president since March of 2000. He was the candidate of the incumbent "Concertacion" which includes the Christian Democrats (center), The Party for Democracy (left), and the Socialist Party. The "concertacion of parties for democracy" should no longer exist, as it was formed to unite the then opposition against General Pinochet. Today General Pinochet, as the father of modern Chile, has no real power, and the concertacion has no danger whatsoever (in elections) from the former Military Government. Today it has just become a huge bureaucratic and inefficient giant that claims to represent the majority. At least the last elections left clear that people are becoming fed up with continuing mediocrity. Lagos won by the narrow margin of 52 % and only after a second round. The young entrepeneurial Lavin got 48%. That means that the other half of the country feels identified by Lavin's Alliance for Chile (rightist). Many people believed Ricardo Lagos would loose to his young rival, Joaquin Lavin, because the Concertacion is out of touch with the times, the people, and is unable to solve country´s real problems. The concertacion won only because of a campaign of lies and deception, claiming Lavin was a fascist and the usual demagogue you would expect from die-hard socialists. Many members of government including the then President Eduardo Frei unashamedly used their images to support the candidate they wanted. In many areas, government officials used public vehicles and time on the job to support the governing coalistion's candidates. Some even spent public money on campaigns. Of course, the opposition pointed this out, but in the end the lies won the presidency. This time the lies will not win the Concertacion more seats in the national Congress as Chileans are beginning to realize what a slow-inefficient government they have. Unfortunately, we found out after the presidential election, this so far has proved true. Lagos has only occuppied himself with the past, delivering little. All he has worried about is to deliver to his socialist supporters that Pinochet will face trial, and that the right will not become government, by constantly critisizing the opposition, instead of worrying about how to best govern the country. It is too early to criticize yet, but the signs are not encouraging. To date, unemployment has reached its highest levels in many years to 10,6 %, which amounts to something like half a million people out of work. His so called plans to reduce unemployment are still to be seen in action.

President Ricardo Lagos Escobar detained by the Investigations Police for presumed complicity in attemtping against General Pinochet's life in 1986.

The economy keeps sinking and there seems no end in sight. Recently the Economy Minister admitted that the government was devided in how to manage the economy. Members of the concertacion, the Socialists, managed to convince the president to stop the privatization of Essam and Essar two inefficient water public companies. These are of course signs that do not encourage investment, as the rules of the game are not clear, and changes at last minute exasperates any sensible investor. The inefficient government coalition is usually slow to react to problems. They are always bickering and arguing about political issues with each other. Instead of making a quick decition on an important issue, precious time is wasted in reaching a concensus, which takes a very long time. If they cannot even put order to their own coalitions and parties themselves, how do they expect to govern the nation? Ricardo Lagos and the concertacion were voted to govern, not to discuss politics.

To top it all off, it has come to light that the concertacion is nothing but an old corrupt government machine. The government tried to keep it secret, but it was blown to the public in the government's worst scandal. It turned out that several ministers of the Christian Democrat (Frei) government of whom several are still ministers in the "new" Lagos government, were "paid" or "awarded" money from public companies. This shows that as always in Chile, the top jobs at public companies are used as "favours" for the president's supporters and not because they were the best for the job. This must and should change. It also shows that nothing was done to stop all this caos, like the directors of these companies from awarding huge sums of public money for themselves for their "jobs". This could not be more clear: we have a big case of corruption. The government is becoming bureaucratic and is literally stealing money from other Chileans. Money that could be better spent on new roads schools, etc. The government, uncomfortable at its incompetence, layed the blame on the Military Government which ended more than 10 years ago for the whole problem saying that it was common practice back then (something without any proof as usual). President Ricardo Lagos, in his benefit, trying to save face announced (quite a correct move) that all those ministers that got benefits in the previous government, had to return it in 2 weeks or retire from public life. So far many of them have returned the money and some have not, but no one has been retired early from public office. One of the key figures of this scandal is an ex-director of a public company, Mr. Garcia Alamos who refused to return the 157 million pesos to the government. He is the father of the economy minister. This government trips again and again over every obstacle. When will Chile be in the path to prosperity once again?

A jobless worker in downtown Santiago with a sign that reads: "I Need a Job Please" - Does President Lagos remember people like these? or is "curlture" more important than hunger?

Because now the governing coalition for the first time has a majority in both chambers of Congress, they can approve or dissaprove laws without the opposition if need be. We have seen proof of this as members of the government coalition have replied in hard, agressive and rude remarks to statements made by the opposition. The good thing is that at least now when laws are not approved, they cannot blame the opposition as they usually do. Recently the reform on Indigenous recognition status as a "people that are part of the Chilean nation" was not approved due to the absences of 17 deputies of the Concertacion coalition. Yet dispite this, Alejandra Krauss, minister of planification and cooperation (Mideplan), said it was the "fault of the right wing that have not been able to change their views on indigenous peoples". What a lie, and the worst is that now everyone knows it. The opposition voted for this reform.

President Ricardo Lagos recently unveiled a statue of former Socialist President Salvador Allende in the Constitution Plaza outside of La Moneda, the Presidential palace. This is of course a shame, and an insult to the Chilean nation to put up a statue of a "president" that caused so much harm and division in our country. It was placed none other than next to all the statues of former Presidents that had contributed to the nation´s greatness.

President Ricardo Lagos Escobar, now a "social-democrat" making impossible false promises to the nation in 2002.

Lagos and his administration also wasted money by trying to "impress" foreign dignitaries, and painted La Moneda, the presidential palace. This wouldn´t have been a problem if at least the painting had been finished. Only the front and back of the Palace walls are painted, while the other walls are still grey. A big sign of inefficiency. Leaving these details aside, the Lagos administration became tangled in a dispute to change the director of the state television Channel, National Television of Chile (TVN), because he belonged to the former administration. The fact is, if a new director must be chosen, it must be by all the political parties (as accorded by law). Lagos of course wanted to override them and impose his candidate. Of course the rightist parties protested, because then the Television channel would just become a "mouthpiece" for the government, and not in the service of the whole nation.

Recently Lagos has scared many people with his ambitions to have the absolute power to change the Commanders-in-Chief of the Military institutions. As the law stands, he cannot just dismiss or sack them at his will, before been approved by other powers of the state. The actual law is very positive, because it alienates the military from politics and leads to continuation and cooperation between the executive and the Commanders-in-Chief. Lagos wants to have the same powers as in the 1925 constitution which let Allende politicize the armed forces to the extreme by sacking them whenever he felt like, and by adding them to his cabinet by retiring them.Unfortunately National Renovation leader Piñera agrees with him, and might work with the government in order to cut support for its bigger sister party the Independent Democratic Union (UDI). This is very serious, and UDI voters expect the party to hold fast against government tinkering with the opposition. The government is not a vast majority to require such changes, and it wants to do so in order to get its way and let party politics to corrupt our institutions. Recently (2001) Lagos has gotten his way by politicizing the Police institution, by changing them from the Defense Ministry where all the armed forces are represented, into the Interior Ministry, to place it under poilitical control. This has made the police forces more bureaucratic and more receptive to political bickering. General ugarte, a somewhat pro-Pinochet General left the force for retirement after a good job at the top job, and was replaced by a government lackey the new General Cienfuegos. This lackey does everything the government tells him to do. Recently he blamed a Coronel for carrying out an order without "consulting" him or telling him about. Why should he? This was a minor order that the Director General of Carabineros (police) had no care for, in what became in the latest government scandal known as the "communist fiasco".

The "communist fiasco" is related to the unpopular Communist Party of Chile. When that party went underground when the Government Junta had outlawed marxist terrorist parties, the party retained its headquarters under private ownership of two of its members. As of 2001, these owners left the party, and in hard times, wanted to sell the Communist Party headquarters (a simple house). Since they wouldnt leave, this was taken to the Courts, where it was determined that the owners had the right and the Communists would be kicked out. Thus the courts told the Communist two weeks PRIOR to their having to leave the premises and they did not reply. The Police acted after knowing for two weeks. This turned into the typical Communist propaganda tirade, where they tried to stay there and were pulled out like a bunch of criminals that they are. The Communist party secretary General, Gladys Marin, said she had been beaten, and came out covered in tomato ketchup. many cops were also injured and this made a scandal for those people that support the communists. The government feeling pressure from the communists (who had made an electroal pact with the government coalition). The inept government´s response (by orders from Lagos), the Communists were given a new headquarters in a government building that used to house the Human Rights Commission (led by Communists anyways). This sets a terrible precedent, because it means that the government favors certain sectors in society over others (basically the terrorist Communists over responsible political parties). This was led by an aoutcry by UDI, the main opposition party, but was disregarded by the government. The government should not act so cozy when it does not have unanimous support from the people. (2001)

Recently for the parliamentary elections in December, there has been some good news, that the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party has become the biggest political force in Chile, and has displaced the weak pro-government National Renewal Party (RN) led by the scandalous millionaire Piñera, who admited defeat by his wright-wing rival. This led to the fact that the Christian Democrats were for the first time since 1965 replaced as the biggest party. This is not surprising since the Christian Democrats have an old leadership (led by ex-president Aylwin), are corrupt, and have supported the Socialists in the interests of the inept government coalition. The government coalition has shown a dwindling support among the population, and although they have been able to maintain a bare majority in Congress, they have been calling it a victory. This is the sad shape they are in and how conforming they are in their mediocrity. Lagos worried about the popularity of the opposition, has said again and again that he wants a Congress for the president, not for a mayor (referring to Lavin, Mayor of Santiago). He has also repeatedly mentioned that the opposition should not be "confrontational" and should be nice and work with the government. This bold hipocrite forgot that UDI has repeatedly offered help and a disposition to help, but Lagos has denied its help, spurning them. Lagos must also remember that in all democratic societies opposition should be vocal and should be respected, or else there is no democracy. UDI has shown itself to be a disciplined party, with young energetic people entering every year, much like a grass-roots movement, helping the poor, the dispossed, opposed to political bickering (it only answers to lousy false government accusations). The UDI has shown itself as the future of the new Chile, by working ith the people. The government worried by the new power of this party, knowing its days are numbered, led by the Education Minister, Krauss (in the Education Ministry since 2000), has claimed that the "La Puerta" comunal schools scored low in this government based test of the best and worst schools of Chile. However, this uninformed ignorant Education Minister, forgot that this school was meant for kids that had drug and alcohol problems, for kids from abusive families, who can remake their lives and can get a highschool diploma. They may not be "A" students, but at least the former Mayor Joaquin Lavin (UDI) tried to help them and inspire them for the benefit of the nation. The Minister wants to close this school, still in its experimental stage, set up in Las Condes and La Florida neighborhoods in Santiago. This shows she is politically biased, ignorant, and a leftist only worried about her power and influence.

Our inept president, Ricardo Lagos Escobar, in January of 2002 moved Michelle Bachelet from the Health Ministry, to head the Defense Ministry. This was a bad move, because she has had no previous experience in defense, and she is very pro-Communist. The Armed Forces received the news of her appointment with disgust, and at best with a cold reception. The commie-sympathizers of the International press have said that her father, General Bachelet was "tortured and killed" by the Military Government....we would like to ask those jackasses that seem to know so much about a nation they have never even heard of until yesterday, where did they get that information? from the so called "pro-human rights campaigner" Amnesty International? Thats pathetic. Where is the proof? Why did she wait to announce this now? I dare ask where or rather who says her father was "tortured and killed"? This is untrue, and everyone knows her father was a pro-Allendist and lost his post. He was accused in a War Tribunal in 1973 for being involved in the "Plan Z" a movement that would have been carried out on september 18, 1973 (Independence day) to kill the Generals in the army in order to foment chaos and break down resistance from the Military towards the Marxist government. She is clearly antagonistic towards the Armed Forces, and will limit their spending, listening to false Peruvian claims that Chile is "promoting an arms race". This was shown when "El Expresso" a Lima newspaper accused her of being anti-Peruvian, and she was so worried, that she quickly denounced this as untrue. She would rather be in perfect terms with our neighbors than with our Armed Forces. This is one more bad apple for Chile´s international image...her only positive quality being that she is a woman. The sooner this government leaves, the better Chile will be.

In short, Lagos cares more for his own outside image then what is going on in the country. This just confirms our claims that he is out of touch with the times. He wants to be seen as a statist leader and not a new president of the 21st century. He is constantly travelling to stupid unimportant conferences of the so-called third way governments. He recently went to New York for the "millenium conference". This is a complete waste of time...what good did the country get out of it? Like Allende he is obssesed with making himself known to the world. Mr. Lagos, you should worry about Chile's problems, problems people face everyday and not about yourself. How about growing crime rate, growing drug consumption, high unemployment and socil peace (regarding Pinochet and the Amnesty Law)? His arrogance is irritating, as he thinks of himself as an intouchable democrat which he is not.

The way President Lagos sees himself....did we say Emperor Lagos?

The socialist Concertacion government have also been deeply involved to make sure Pinochet gets tried. Lagos just keeps cosying up to European socialists so as to prove to the world how "democratic" is his lousy government. Instead of making the obvious move to break diplomatic relations with Great Britain and Spain, he sent his foreign and defense ministers to London. The British, suddenly afraid that navy and military relations are so cold, fearing that Chile might buy some military equipment from the US, has quickly, but unconvincingly tried to remedy the big damage done. The Chilean Navy of course, will never have the warm historic relations with the British Navy again. So the government might try to kiss up to the european socialists, but many Chileans do not approve. Lagos is also a big admirer of the so called "Third Way" type of government which means he likes big taxes and big public spending, neither things being good for the economy. Nobody wants to invest in a climate of uncertainty, when the government claims one thing, but does another. Investors are afraid of the artificial division the whole Pinochet situation is creating, which is only the government´s fault. This has been denounced by Walter Riesco, head of the Industrialists Federation and other bussines sectors. The government, instead of burying the issue like it should have been done (The General is 86), it decided to go on with the persecution, making things worse.

The socialist government in power has recently been going from blunder to blunder. One of the most important is the fact that the President does not act as a "statesman" but rather as a furious and frustrated child. This was seen when Cardinal Medina, the highest Chilean in the Vatican rightly pointed out that his excellency Pope John Paul II did not want to meet Mr. Ricardo Lagos due to his anti-abortion, anti-marriage and anti-religious agenda. This was true when a national census was taken recently, and a government email was made public that people refrain from stating they were Catholics if they believed in pre-marital sex, in a law for divorce, or were anti-abortion. This caused outrage in the Church, and the government only transferred the wrongdoers to another ministry and did not even release their names for public scrutiny as they are so eager to do with ex-military personel. Thus, instead of ignoring the remark or answering in simple tones, Lagos angrily told the press "off the record" that the Cardinal should be quiet and mind his own business, saying he had no right to criticize. The president seems to forget that citizen rights apply to everyone including priests, not only lame leftists who support this mis-government.

To make matters worse, the president is intent on passing his "Plan Auge" or Maximizing Plan, which is mainly centered around a reform to the health system, which has both private and public participants. However, Lagos did not specify how the government would finance the plan, until the president's annual address on the 21st of May address. He stated that the plan would be financed by cutting state funding (subsidies) to pre-natal and post-natal care, and stating that the ISAPRES (Private Health Insurance) would have to contribute more, therefore rising the price, forcing people back into the ineffectual FONASA (National Health Care Foundation) in a move to undercut the private industry in the area, which provides millions of jobs. This would affect the middle classes and would only help to maintain inefficiency and mediocrity. The UDI party of the right (Independent Democratic Union), has denounced this, and will not let this presidential proposal to become law in Congress. Hopefully they will succeed, and the government will take heed to the population's rejection of this plan, serving the interests of the leftist Medical School and other leftist sectors.

President's Lagos only coup in his two years in office was to conclude a major trading agreement with the European Union, after talks with NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) stalled. This will provide many thousands of jobs in the near and far future, will help with technologival cooperation, and has rightly signified that Europe sees Chile as an island of stability in the region. Chile has been the only Latin-American country to reduce poverty rates by half since the 1990's and to continue to grow faster than the regional average. After the sad and massive fall of Argentina, Chile continues to stand out as the leader in the region, as to what developing countries can achieve. It is undoubtly true that this move by Spain to support Chile in its agreements witht he EU were for the enhancement of Spain's own international image, as well as for been forgiven for the embarrasing mistake during the Pinochet saga. It is important to note that the EU wanted to support their socialist coleague by giving him some sort of outside victory to bolster his withering popular support, President Ricardo Lagos. It is however a more advantageous deal for Chile than it is for the European Union, fortunately. Our balding president was wrong when he stated that Europeans like Chile and that is why we got into the agreement. The truth is rather that Chile unlike the other countries in the region has followed stable macroeconomic policies having many indicators that compare similarly to the most developed nations (such as death rates, population growth rates, levels of education, etc). What Chile lacks however, is a clear guidance from the executive power as to wehere we go from here and as to how we definetely reach absolute complete development from the stage of "developing". There is also a lack of a national proyect which involves everyone, which the government has only helped to delay by creating political divisions and attacking other sectors that don't agree with their old-fashioned socialist plans. The government and Mr. Lagos in particular need to understand that they cannot stay with their arms crossed, but have to move and open markets for Chile's economy, and disregard the useless topic of "human rights abuses" which mistakenly put Chile in a bad reputation or in a bad light, most cases which are an absolute marxist farce. Chile needs to be more innovative, apply more research and development, and add more agregate value to exported goods, as well as to try to woe foreign investment. The government has proved more than relaxed on the issue, and while the government has scored a success in this economic agreement with the European Union, it has still disregarded the real problems of the people. This include the fact that president Lagos made no mention whatsoever to unemployment, the economy, and improvements in technology and innovation. Instead the government has resorted to cheap third world type of promises that fool no one, such as ending poverty by 2005, when the country is not even growing. A country needs to be growing and devloping economically in order to help alleviate the problem of poverty. The government also tries to subsidize poverty rather than solve it definitely by using active public programs. The unstable concertacion knowing that they will loose the next election to Mr. Lavin of the Union for Chile pact of the right wing, are desperately more worried in discrediting their opponents making them look bad. The government is not aware that it has to stop talking and using empty promises, but that it must act and now, unlike the days of General Pinochet when it was no words, but action. Chile can only reach its goals of complete development with a higher growth rate, social peace (read no protests or political bickering) and continued emphasis on education. These are small but important details about this government to date, and although its to early to judge seriously, these signs are very worrying for Chile´s future. The people of Chile have not forgotten the Socialist disaster of the 1970's which with God willing, should never happen again.