The battle of Chile continues

Based on a deal from the days of the dictatorship, the Secret Copper Law allows the Chilean military to lay claim to about 10 per cent of all revenues from the national copper industry. Since business has been good lately, thanks to Chinese demand, the Chilean military has gone shopping for new toys. Writing on this issue, researcher Alex Sanchez states:

These [new armaments] purchases demonstrate that, ultimately, the military remains largely an autonomous entity in Chile, a separate entity from Bachelet's civilian Government and not operating under any predictable bona fides. The Chilean military has, largely on its own, engaged in a one-sided arms race in the Andean sub-continent, with the nation's civilian government lacking the political will or strategic interests to put an end to the hypertrophy of vital institutions that stems from the Pinochet dictatorship's ghastly legacy and Santiago 's tolerance of such a skewed definition of democracy.

In her right mind, of course, Bachelet would never support the actual use of this new hardware. But against this we must weigh statements she made during her year-long stay at the Inter-American Defence College in Washington DC in 1998. There, Bachelet argued on the necessity for a “convergence with the hegemonic power” - or as sociologist, James Petras put it, “Servile submission to US strategic dictates”.

Bachelet's plans are difficult to assess. What is clear, however, is that Chile currently has hundreds of troops in Haiti - where it quickly supported US intervention in early 2004 following the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In Iraq, hundreds of Chilean mercenaries are being hired - a situation currently under investigation by the United Nations.

Closer to home, the Chilean military is aware that Venezuela's Hugo Chávez is building military bases for the Bolivian military - historically, an enemy of Chile. And it is no secret that Chávez wants to create a regional Latin American financial and military block to which, Washington's free market allies like Chile, in future, could be hostile.

Perhaps in response to the clash of visions between Caracas and neo-liberal Santiago, the Bachelet Government has recently declared it will export programs to reduce poverty in the Caribbean. Chile has so far donated a million dollars to the project, but this effort pales in comparison to the co-sponsored literacy and health care programs currently exported by Venezuela and Cuba throughout Latin America.

Despite a Chilean media blackout of the Caracas-Havana initiatives, in Chile, many have been quick to take up the opportunity to have free eye surgery in Cuba. And many Chileans would most likely prefer Bachelet to reduce poverty at home first, followed by a serious overhaul of the nation's labour laws.

With the Chilean working class on the march again and more industrial disputes on the political cards, filmmaker Guzmán may want to start documenting this new era, too.