Chile far-right candidate rides anti-migrant wave in presidential poll

The Guardian UK ^ | 22 October 2021 | John Bartlett in Santiago

[blueplum]

Hopes for a more progressive Chile have been dealt a blow as a far-right candidate surges in opinion polls ahead of the first presidential election since massive demonstrations against inequality erupted in 2019.

A month before the vote, polling shows that the leftwing candidate – former student leader Gabriel Boric – has slipped behind (by one percentage point) José Antonio Kast, a supporter of the dictator Augusto Pinochet, who has suggested digging ditches along the country’s border to stop migrants.

After months of political unrest, voters chose by huge majority to replace the country’s Pinochet-era constitution, and then elected a broadly leftwing convention to complete that task.

But fears over migration, public security and shifting social values have boosted the far right, making the 21 November election a battle between starkly contrasting visions for Chile’s future.

The country has been on edge since September, when anti-migrant violence exploded in Iquique, a port on Chile’s arid northern coast....

[blueplum]

Chile leaning back to the right but hopefully not CIA-driven Pinochet-level

[dodger]

“Far Right” = Sensible Patriots

[Redmen4ever]

Could be a center-right versus populist-right runoff.

That would be all right with me.

[Mr. Blond]

Viva Pinochet!

[Track9]

Half of Venezuela went there and the stupid guardian reporter doesn’t even mention socialism as the cause

[FreedomPoster]

🚁
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🤸🏻‍♀️

[Reaganez]

Pinochet killed ~10k communist and saved Chile from 50+ years of Fidelismo.

Chile would be so lucky to have another Pinochet.

[TallahasseeConservative]

Let’s hope helicopter rides for Commies are brought back!!

[LuxAerterna]

What a joke! José Antonio Kast want to restore law and order to a country plagued by violence, terrorism and lawlessness. He’s running against a man, Gabriel Boric, who refuses to even take a drug test.

The military revolution of 1973-1990 was the best thing that ever happened to Chile. It left Chile as a modern, orderly and prosperous country. And yes, it also left Chile as a FREE country of great personnel liberty.

[BobL]

“Pinochet killed ~10k communists”

Neither side is bloodless when Communists make their moves, but the killing ratio is about 100 to 1 - meaning if Communists win, roughly 100 times the number of people will be killed (’enemies of the people’, don’t you know), as opposed to Communists being put down violently.

It’s repeated over and over, throughout history, and even in the US, where Communists seized on a very small number of blacks being killed by cops (in most cases with justification), to effectively neuter the police departments in most major cities...leading directly to THOUSANDS more murders, every year.

[LuxAerterna]

Pinochet killed ~10k communists

Even this number is WAY off and absurdly biased.

It's more like 2,500. Most of these were killed in armed confrontation with the Army or police. Nearly all of the remainder consists of violent militants who were guilty of capital crimes, but instead were lynched in the heat of the moment in the weeks after the 1973 uprising.

[Kriggerel]

There’s that “Far Right” term again...

Apparently there *IS* no “moderate right” anymore, at least according to the media. Apparently anything located to the right of Chairman Mao’s skeletal fingertips is no longer “Correct Thinking” and is now “Far Right, Actual Nazi”.

[BobL]

“Even this number is WAY off and absurdly biased.”

Thanks, I haven’t studied it that much, but no surprise that ‘historians’ are blaming every death that occurred during Pinochet’s rule, on Pinochet. (sounds kind of like virus deaths, these days)

[montag813]

Migrants from where??

[csvset]

According to government statistics, the number of foreign-born citizens living in Chile more than tripled, to 1.5 million, between 2014 and the end of 2019, while migrants – many fleeing violence and poverty in Haiti and Venezuela – continue to arrive in the country.

Haiti and Venezuela

[DIRTYSECRET]

This guy Kast seems like a wannabe Trump. That’s good. Let’s say he wins on Nov. 21(mark the date). Would that be a possible sanctuary for us? He’s 55 y/o. That could mean 20 years of Pinochet style rule. Dictatorship? Perhaps but it would be a better home for some of us. Take our nest eggs with us.

[fieldmarshaldj]

My handy-dandy Newspeak media translation guide for political ideology labels:

Media labels vs. Reality:
Blue = Red
Socialist/Left-wing = Stalinist
Liberal = Marxist
Moderate/(Centrist) = Socialist
Conservative = Liberal
Far-Right = Moderate <—————————————
Ultraright/Racist/Bigot = Conservative Mainstream

---

So he is a moderate.