Chile’s most recent history stage began with a symbolic milestone, relevant for democrats both in Chile and around the world: October 5, 1988. That day, with Augusto Pinochet still leading the government, 55.99% of the electorate voted ‘No’ in the referendum in which the dictator proposed to prolong his control of power for another decade. The following year, on December 14, 1989, free elections were held. In March of 1990, Patricio Aylwin assumed the presidency—marking the start of a politico-institutional Chilean phase, known as the Transition to Democracy. This period is worth revisiting, even if only superficially.
Transition to Democracy
The Transition to Democracy in Chile did not happen overnight, or as a result of unilateral decisions. It was a product of a long process involving dialogue, agreements, and concessions, which involved a substantive part of society. Perhaps many have forgotten, but the debates held back then were among the most intense, instructive, and significant of Latin American XX century. Matters such as the tensions between punishment and forgiveness, justice and vengeance, past, present and future, direct responsibility and complicity, memory and social change, and legality and illegality were revised in all their aspects. The fact that Chile’s Transition to Democracy continues to be a constant and recurrent reference should not surprise us, since it constitutes an enormous file of cases of fruitful consultation.
The most complex knot to untangle was nothing less than the gradual dismantling of the public powers and functions that had been concentrated in the military forces, to transfer them to civil jurisdiction, but, above all, to become responsibility of the State and not be subjected to political sways and outrages. Aylwin and, at the very least, the following three governments—Eduardo Ruiz-Tagle (1994-2000), Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006), and Michelle Bachelet (2006-2012)—, had to respond to the accounts documented by the National Commission of Truth and Reconciliation, created by Aylwin in September of 1990. This Commission was created to make an inventory of the human rights violations perpetrated between Pinochet’s coup d’état (September 11, 1973) and the day the new democratic power was assumed (Mach 11, 1990.)
The Retigg Report
The Commission published the Retigg Report, named after its president, the juror Raúl Retigg. The document, whose three volumes can be found on the National Library of Chile’s website, thoroughly reviewed 3,920 cases; and determined that, out of the 2,279 victims, 2,115 of them were assassinated by the dictatorship and 164 by extreme-left organizations. On March 4, 1991, in a fundamental ceremony for the Latin American XX century, President Aylwin addressed his country on both radio and television. He presented a summary of the Retigg Report and apologized to the relatives of the victims: “In my capacity as President of the Republic, I assumed the representation of the entire Nation in order to apologize to the relatives of the victims. For this reason I also solemnly ask the Armed and Order Forces, and all those who have participated in the excesses committed, to make gestures of recognition of the pain caused and collaborate to reduce it.” Later on, he added, “No criteria on the subject erases the fact that human rights violations were committed (…) Nothing justifies the torture and execution of prisoners, nor the disappearance of their remains.”
Just as expected, the reaction to the Retigg Report reactivated the controversy to its highest levels and made way for the creation of the National Corporation of Reparations and Reconciliations. This Corporation added new victims, which weren’t included in the Retigg Report: 776 people executed and 123 disappeared.
As of 1990, relations between the civil power and the armed forces were far from idyllic. In fact, they experienced serious ups and downs. Studies of important historians reveal there were moments in which the Chilean democracy was in danger. This is a reminder that the transition from a dictatorship to a democratic regime does not come about as a result of immediate decisions and changes, but from the contrary: arduous negotiations, agreements, and processes that can take years. In Chile, even modifications to the legal framework were required at its highest level, such as the reforms to the Constitution approved in 2005 to transfer the control of the State from the hands of the military power to democratically elected governments.
A regional leader for its economic and social achievements
There is still a debate on whether the improvements in the overall Chilean economy, which began approximately in 1990, are a result of the Transition process or not. The truth is that after those years a process started that, not without its sways, has unequivocally prolonged so far.
Upon researching the behavior of some significant statistics, beyond the differences among diverse sources, it is surprising to see what has happened since then. Starting with poverty, in 1990, around 40% of Chileans lived in poverty conditions—very similar to other countries in South America. Since then, admirable achievements have been accomplished: poverty was reduced to around 7%, which represents a reduction of over 80%! In an April World Bank report, the Chilean economy was recognized as “one of the Latin American economies with fastest growth in the last decades.” Additionally, that the population considered poor (with an income under $5.5 a day) diminished from 30 to 6.4% between 2000 and 2017. From 2011 to 2014, for example, the net family patrimony increased by more than 40%.
In certain measures, Chile appears as the leading country in Latin America for its economic and social achievements. However, as a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), composed of 36 nations—the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, European Community, and Mexico—, it stands a little behind. Consequently, depending on the group of comparison, Chile seems to have either relative or very high progress.
From the perspective of the OECD, the country fares well on indicators such as access to housing, the influence of citizens on governmental decisions, educational outcomes, and employment remuneration. Compared to the rest of Latin America, the Pan American Health Organization has estimated that Chile has the highest life expectancy in the continent, 80 for men and 85 for women. Moreover, after Canada, Chile is has the lowest homicide rate in the Americas: between 2.7 and 3.0 per 100 thousand inhabitants.
Challenges for Chile: mining dependency and an aging population
Different calculations point out that Chile has surpassed the mark of 18 million inhabitants. In addition to being the country with the highest income per capita in Latin America, it is the fifth economy of the continent. Certainly, Chile is the largest producer of copper, lithium, and iodine in the world; the fluctuating copper market prices impact its economy. Still, it should be noted that mining accounts for just over 14% of its GDP, that its agricultural and fisheries exports are also relevant, but that its main economic driver is the services sector, which represent around 65% of the gross domestic product.
Even so, expert institutions—among them, Bank of America—insist on pointing out that one of the main challenges both the current and future governments must attend is the reduction of dependence on the mining sector, which still accounts for 40% of exports.
The Chilean society, its institutions, and governments have important matters to address in the next few years, so that the performance of the last two decades is maintained and strengthened. In structural terms, in addition to the aforementioned mining issue, there is another relevant concern: the end of the demographic period and the start of a phase characterized by the rapid aging of the population. The 2017 census shows a deepening in the trend that had been developing since the mid-1990s: while the population over 60 years has increased, that under 15 has decreased. More concretely, between 1992 and 2017, the number of people over 60 grew by 4.8%, while those under 15 reduced by 9.3%.
In addition to these two major issues, there are others of a more circumstantial and managerial nature, but equally relevant and urgent. One, which concerns economic analysts, is to stabilize the external debt, currently around 65% of GDP. This reduction is inseparable from several others: reach an agreement around the debated tax reform; take measures to reduce bureaucracy; improve the pension system; and, very importantly, to improve the quality of employment and labor mobility. It is imperative, in addition to strengthening the middle classes, to multiply the professional and employment opportunities for young people and young families, and to follow the reactivation of the productive sector with social reforms that eliminate persistent elements of social exclusion. This is fundamental. No other country in Latin America has the conditions of Chile to both eradicate extreme poverty and reduce poverty indicators below 5%.
Moving on towards a developed country
Recent reports, including one from the OECD, are encouraging: school achievement rates continue to rise. Chilean society, historically well educated and cultured, is increasing its demands for education that is higher quality and more competitive, more accessible and less expensive, more innovative and less authoritarian, perceived more as a service, and, as much as possible, capable of contributing to the desirable growth in the coming years, amid the global economy slowdown.
At the same time, Chilean society, exceptions with respect to the region, is starting to exhibit problems that are common to those of developed countries. For example, while poverty has reduced, inequalities continue to generate pressures for both the distribution of wealth and social mobility and promotion; for the cost of financing higher education; for the wage gap between men and women; and for the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, such as indigenous communities. Also, the successful pension model based on individual accounts faces the challenge to achieve universality and solidarity (minimum pension), as well as guarantees for contingencies in the capital markets, for which Chilean governments and legislators have shown great maturity when introducing adjustments with ample political support—the last one under the first term of Michelle Bachelet.
Undoubtedly, Chile is privileged to have—and should take advantage of—political, social, and business leaders in broad sectors of society that are highly aware of what knowledge and the fourth industrial revolution mean for the future of nations. Those who have decision-making abilities on their hands should not make mistakes. If Chile focuses the efforts of its public policies in this regard, it will continue to be the exemplary country in Latin America, due to its productive advances and its growing reduction of poverty. Throughout all this, of course, it is important for Chileans to never lose sight of the fact that this success story began on the exact day Chile opted to have democracy and freedoms be the compass for its future.