Chile: the good democracy?

Recently Bachelet visited Mexico and, with her presidential counterpart, declared that they wanted to "obtain in the shortest time possible results that favour the business area." Although the militarisation of Mexican society continues as the country remains unstable from last year's electoral fraud, and the abject poverty exacerbated by neo-liberal policies, Bachelet does not seem to be too troubled with Calderon's company.

Bachelet also further displayed her colours when Latin American countries had to choose last year between Guatemala and Venezuela for a seat at the Security Council in the United Nations. The dilemma of having to support Venezuela over US-backed Guatemala - whose decommissioned para-militaries are notorious for the country's abysmal rate of rapes and murder of women - proved too much for the self-professed feminist president. Under pressure, her government abstained during the vote.

If one considers Chile's experiment in expanding democracy under the Allende government and Bachelet's past, the current developments in Venezuela, and Chile's official position to them, of course seem ironic. Over a series of issues both countries have had diplomatic clashes while Chile so far has chosen not to be part of regional projects such as TeleSur - a joint broadcasting initiative by Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba, Bolivia and now Ecuador aimed at countering the cultural hegemony of US networks like CNN.

Recently, in an interesting article in the Washington Post on May 17, Juan Forrero noted Venezuelans' mass participation in community councils which: "In the neighborhoods, [is] hard to find anything but bubbling enthusiasm". Ferrero wrote that:

Council members are elected, and each oversees a committee that concerns itself with an issue such as education or health care or youth services. When big decisions are made, they must be put before a neighborhood assembly of residents, representing on average about 400 families. The state provides funding for a wide range of projects.

Although one should certainly not idealise leaders like Hugo Chávez and fail to point out flaws in his administration, the above practises described by Forrero are certainly common in Venezuela. Last December an extensive survey by Latinobarómetro (PDF 978KB) - a polling firm based in Chile - noted that just after Uruguayans, Venezuelans held highly favourable views of their democratic institutions. Chile on the other hand ranked eighth, just above Colombia.

In future, Chileans may well decide to expand their democracy as the failings of the Concertación government and its adherence to free market policies become all too apparent. For now though, outsiders who are looking for democracy in Latin America, and in particular, interesting experiments in its expansion, may choose to visit countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina. In Chile you will find a president who calls herself a socialist and who twinkles at the edges of the system with some reforms, but not much else.