Free Republic

Humanitarians were up in arms last month when Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, came away from a China tour spouting Beijing propaganda. For those who fight for liberty in Cuba, the high commissioner’s performance was no surprise. During the Cold War she was on the side of the Soviets, and she’s a lifelong admirer of the Cuban revolution. Let’s face it: Human rights are not her thing. According to Axios, the 70-year-old Ms. Bachelet “used Chinese government talking points to frame her remarks” on the situation in Xinjiang, where the regime has detained some one million...

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet praised China’s “tremendous achievements” in human rights this weekend and claimed that the Communist Party has “dismantled” all of its concentration camps in the Uyghur region of East Turkistan, concluding her visit to the region. Bachelet used the Chinese Communist Party’s preferred euphemism for the concentration camps, “Vocational Education and Training Centers” (VETC), and claimed that Party officials allowed her to visit what is now the “Kashgar Experimental School,” an alleged former camp. In her remarks on Saturday as she concluded the trip to China, Bachelet emphasized that her visit was...

The family of George Floyd, the black man killed while in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, has sent a letter to the globalist United Nations to ask for its help in disarming police officers in the United States of America. The family’s legal team facilitated the letter, which was sent on Wednesday, according to NBC News: The group sent a letter on June 3 to one of the international body’s working groups asking for support for the end of the provision of military equipment and military-type training for police, the teaching of deescalation techniques, independent prosecutions and autopsies...

The U.N human rights chief says she expects the U.S. administration of President-elect Joe Biden will be “much, much better” when it comes to human rights, and warned of shrinking “democratic space” in Hong Kong — saying her office will be monitoring the rights situation there. Michelle Bachelet spoke to reporters in Geneva in a catch-all news conference to recap the year and look ahead to 2021. She cited concerns about the inequalities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism like that highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement. Bachelet hailed “a series of promising pledges” by Biden, on...

The UN's human rights chief today urged countries to confront the legacy of slavery and colonialism and to make amends for 'centuries of violence and discrimination' through reparations. Addressing an urgent debate on racism and police brutality at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Michelle Bachelet called on countries to examine their pasts and to strive to better understand the scope of continuing 'systemic discrimination'. ---------- George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, called on the United Nations to set up an independent commission to investigate the killings of African Americans by police. He made his speech via video message during...

The UN’s brand of multilateralism is a perversion of its original mission - to achieve solutions to global problems through cooperation among sovereign nations rather than through the imposition of global governance “rules” and “norms” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Monday that she is appalled by the conditions in which migrants and individuals seeking refugee status are being held in detention in the United States after crossing the southern border from Mexico. She stressed that children should never be held in immigration detention or separated from their families, declaring that immigration detention is never...

The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main driver of climate change, have hit a new record high, the UN said Thursday, warning that the time to act was running out. Ahead of the COP 24 climate summit in Poland next month, top United Nations officials are again trying to raise the pressure on governments to meet the pledge of limiting warming to the less than two degrees Celsius, enshrined in the 2015 Paris accord. “Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth,” the...

Hypocrisy appears to be the leading trait we can expect from high-ranking UN officials such as the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Sadly, Ms. Bachelet is no exception The new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has unfortunately continued the one-sided anti-Israel narrative that her anti-Semitic predecessor, Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, propagated whenever he got a chance. In her first speech to the UN Human Rights Council on September 10, 2018, Ms. Bachelet blamed Israel’s so-called “blockade” and its alleged “excessive use of force” for all the problems suffered by the Palestinians in Hamas-run Gaza. “Prospects...

A conservative billionaire and former president, Sebastián Piñera, has won Chile's presidential election run-off. It is a marked move to the right for the country, which is currently led by socialist President Michelle Bachelet. She had backed Mr Guillier.

...Ms Bachelet's son, Sebastian Davalos, was accused by the opposition of using his influence to get a $10m (£6.5m) bank loan for his wife. His wife's company used the money to buy plots of land in central Chile which her company then resold for profit. Although Chile's national bank regulator cleared him of any wrongdoing, the issue has become a scandal. Ms Bachelet always maintained she had not been aware of the deal but in a TV interview on Wednesday night she acknowledged she had made "important mistakes" in not returning from holiday or commenting on the case sooner. Correspondents...

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has signed a law that recognizes civil unions between same-sex couples. The law signed Monday takes effect in six months, giving same-sex and unmarried couples many of the rights granted to married couples. Among the changes, it will allow civil union partners to inherit each other’s property, join a partner’s health plan and receive pension benefits. …

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet saw her approval rating fall for the third straight month in September, though support for her key reforms improved, a poll showed on Thursday. Overall approval of the center-left president slipped 2 percentage points from August to 47 percent, said pollster Gfk Adimark, Bachelet's lowest rating in the monthly survey since returning to power in March. As well as flagging economic growth, there was a spate of bombings in capital Santiago in September, including one that left 14 people injured and another that left a man dead. Ahead of her second non-consecutive term, Bachelet promised an...

Chile’s former president Michelle Bachelet won in a runoff election this Sunday, afterfailing to obtain a majority of votes in November’s first round. She has now cleared the path to a second term as president of Chile, with 62 percent of the vote, bettering the 37 percent garnered by her childhood playmate, economist, and recent minister of labor and social security, Evelyn Matthei. She did win a majority of votes on Sunday, but that’s only half the story. As US author and humorist Mark Twain famously mused, “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Leftism: Chile has long been a global model of free-market economics. But on Sunday, it elected socialist Michelle Bachelet, who ran on a platform of tax hikes and "free" education. What drives a country to reject success? Bachelet took an astonishing 62% of the vote against her more conservative rival, Evelyn Matthei, who drew just 38%. It wasn't entirely surprising: Bachelet projected a cheery, confident, maternal demeanor and made few gaffes, quite unlike the less polished Matthei. She also had a good record: As president from 2006 to 2010, she left office with a phenomenal 84% popularity rating — in...

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - Chile's once and future leader Michelle Bachelet easily won Sunday's presidential runoff, returning center-left parties to power by promising profound social changes in response to years of street protests. Bachelet won 62 percent of the vote, the most decisive victory in eight decades of Chilean elections. Her conservative rival, Evelyn Matthei only got 37 percent of the vote and conceded defeat in the worst performance for the right in two decades. Bachelet needs the momentum of her resounding victory to strengthen her mandate and try to overcome congressional opposition to fulfill her promises. The 62-year old...

Ecuador aligns itself with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba In speeches against imperialism and neoliberalism, the presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and Bolivia, Evo Morales, and the Ecuadoran President-Elect Rafael Correa, who should assume the government of his country Monday, expressed common ideological and political agreement Sunday. Chavez, Morales, and Correa, who also exalt the figure of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, met together in Zumbahua, an indigenous [Ecuadoran] locality 90 kilometers south of Quito, for a symbolic inauguration of Correa before the indigenous peoples [of Ecuador]. In a speech before a multitude congregated in the central plaza, Correa emphasized that "[Latin]...

U.S. President Barack Obama pulls out the chair for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet as they are seated for the Official Dinner at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad April 18, 2009. U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet during the UNASUR countries meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad April 18, 2009. Barack Obama tucks a paper into his suit jacket after delivering a speech during the opening session of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Friday April 17, 2009. In...

The Christian Democratic Organization of America warns about risks of Populism and calls upon related parties to work to remove rulers like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro from power. By: Jose Contreras and Adolfo Sanchez Venegas Sunday 28 January 2007 | Hour of publication: 12:47 p.m. The Christian Democratic Organization of America (ODCA) will promote the transition to democracy in Cuba and the liberation of political prisoners and will strive for the recovery of those governments in Latin America which are in the hands of the Left, the President of the body, Manuel Espino Barrientos, indicated. In a press conference,...

Michelle Bachelet is the current commie president of Chile who made news all week by trashing Gen. Augusto Pinochet after he died. She adamantly refused to give state recognition for Pinochet's funeral, as is customary for former Chilean presidents when they die. Before his death Bachelet was one of the main driving forces attempting to get Pinochet prosecuted for "war crimes" against the dozens of Castro-backed marxist terror cells that he stamped out during his rule. At the funeral earlier this week Pinochet's grandson Augusto Pinochet Molina, a Chilean army captain, praised his grandfather's legacy. Bachelet retaliated against Molina for...

Bachelet's price for supporting Chavez After the speech of the Venezuelan president, the critical comments of the [Venezuelan] Ambassador in Santiago Victor Delgado are what has endangered the inclination of the Chief Executive for this country [to support Venezuela's candidacy for a seat on the UN Security Council] By Sergio Espinosa V. When Hugo Chavez abandoned the podium of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Wednesday the 20th, the echo of his inflammatory speech against the President of the United States, George W. Bush, and his histrionic gestures still resounded in the ears of incredulous listeners. The members of...