TRUMP-INSPIRED FAR RIGHT IN CHILE IS ON THE RISE IN A DECISIVE ELECTION YEAR

Photo by Carlos Figueroa

BY SOFÍA BRINCK

On a warm Saturday in March 2020, journalist Rafael Cavada was running errands in Santiago, Chile, when he encountered a demonstration for the “Reject” option for the then-upcoming constitutional referendum.

As he had done multiple times since the mass uprisings in Chile in 2019, Cavada pulled out his phone to broadcast live what seemed to be a peaceful march from a social movement that had condemned protesters’ violence in the past. Things took a sudden turn, however, and as Cavada detailed in a video posted on social media later, wearing a white t-shirt soaked in blood, “A large group attacked me with retractile batons and a baseball bat, some of them aiming for my head. I fell, then managed to stand up, and the people of one building aided me.”

This is just one of several incidents that have involved far-right militants in Chile over the last several years. Actors associated with the far right in Chile have defaced human rights violation memorials, attacked pro-referendum demonstrators, and spread hate speech against the LGBT+ community and feminist groups. These visible expressions of the Chilean far right, a political movement that had remained in the shadows since the dictatorship’s fall in 1990, have occurred in tandem with the official founding of the ultra-nationalist Republican Party in 2020.

This year marked a turning point for Chile’s far right when the right-leaning governing coalition included the until now outcast Republican Party in their electoral pact for the Constitutional Convention. The next year will literally and figuratively redefine the way Chile is governed: in April, Chileans will choose representatives for a Constitutional Convention to construct a new governing document and regional governors while also electing mayors and council members.

ln November, Chileans will return to their polling places to vote for a new president and half of the Chamber of Deputies—the Lower House of the country’s bicameral Congress. Campaigns for the April vote have already begun, and far-right candidates have gained prominence for their proposals, some of which closely resemble former U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies. Ideas of walls surrounding wealthy districts to avoid thieves or digging a trench at the Northern Andean border to stop undocumented immigration have entered the debate, even if they have been received with skepticism so far.

A Trumpian Inspiration?

The nexus between Donald Trump and Latin America is not new. When Trump won the presidency, he was compared to Latin American caudillos for the personality cult he produced among his followers. A Washington Post columnist even talked about a supposed “Latin Americanization of U.S. politics,” comparing Trump’s political style with nationalist demagogues who had previously led Latin American countries. However, the right had regained power in Latin America after decades of central-left governments, with Trump’s arrival at the White House seemingly confirming an opening of a new chapter in bilateral relations.

Four years and a pandemic later, things have changed. Trump’s relationships never flourished, a partial result of his fight over the U.S.-Mexico border wall and sanctions levied against what U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton called the “Troika of Tyranny” (Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua). Trump found a counterpart for his political choices and leadership style in Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, but beyond him, Trump has become a source of inspiration for far-right movements throughout the region. In Chile, caps and flags with the slogan “Make America Great Again” can be seen in far-right demonstrations alongside U.S. Confederate flags.

For Robert Funk, a political scientist of the University of Chile, this doesn’t mean that people want to bring the Confederacy back. Instead, Funk argues that it expresses a desire to engage with ideas and projects that defend violence, racism, and bullying as a way of exercising power. As the left has Ché Guevara, the far right has a new icon.

“Trump’s importance for the far right lies in the normalization of certain discourses and ways of doing politics,” Funk asserted.

A Tense Chilean Right

Even though the far right’s history in Chile goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, the most crucial moment came after socialist Salvador Allende’s election in 1970. Paramilitary fascist movements such as Patria y Libertad were the first signs of what would come next, namely Augusto Pinochet’s coup and the consolidation of a neoliberal regime.

After the return of democracy, far-right groups had disappeared. Now, there are no certainties as to who is drawn to them. Most of the far-right social movements flaunt military paraphernalia and are Pinochet followers, denying or even attempting to justify the regime’s human rights violations. The Social Patriot Movement and La Vanguardia are the most visible groups, but there may be many more. The “face” of the movement is politician José Antonio Kast, a former congressman and candidate for the presidency in 2017, who founded the Republican Party.

Miguel Urrutia, historian and sociology professor at the University of Chile, argues that Chile’s far right is defined by a rejection of political democracy and its agents, embodied in the political class.

“The Chilean far right is a synthesis of Catholic conservatism and ultraliberalism who see themselves as the defenders of a God-given order that is brought to perfection by capitalism and that has led to an internationally-recognized Chile,” he argued. “In that vein, the paramilitary and violent groups are just one of the expressions of the far right which is articulated transversally from them to the Republican Party to the broader neoliberal order.”

Until recently, traditional right-wing parties in Chile had distanced themselves from far-right movements. Most of the far-right social movements flaunt military paraphernalia and are Pinochet followers, denying or even attempting to justify the regime’s human rights violations.

Until recently, traditional right-wing parties in Chile had distanced themselves from far-right movements. Stéphanie Alenda, associate professor at the Andrés Bello University and author of a recently published book about the Chilean right, argues that lately the traditional right-wing parties have followed an electoral strategy of moderation that would draw them near the political center. The far right’s ascendency in the political arena has generated a counter-reaction that has resulted in a crossroads between moderation and radicalization.

“Before this year, Kast was an outsider, someone who, despite being in politics for a long time, was in a different political level and wasn’t such a relevant political actor,” Alenda said. “This changed with the electoral alliance with the governing coalition for the upcoming Constitutional Convention election. Now, he is facing a far more favorable context than when the Republican Party was founded a year and a half ago.”

Compared to Kast’s solo venture in his 2017 presidential bid, the far right’s electoral prospects seem to have improved, and Republican candidates are now enjoying equal consideration as other parties’ contenders in the campaign. However, Professor Alenda stressed caution: “We need to see this as a process, so we need to wait until this electoral year is over to confirm if we can talk about possible consolidation of the far right.”

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Sofía Brinck is a Chilean journalist and a graduate student in the joint master’s degree in Global Media and Communications at USC Annenberg and the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is participating in a foreign affairs reporting class taught by Professor Phil Seib, a collaboration between the Pacific Council and the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.