A woman will soon no longer govern Chile. To some degree, this is just trivia. (“Who’s the new president of Chile?…Who cares?”) BUT – to be citizens of the world, a wise steward of our money, and to really honor the entirety of that big brains we’ve cultivated over the years — it’d behoove us to keep up with what’s going on outside the U.S. — and outside the infotainment lineup on MSM television. So! Behold this quick summary:
Who: Sebastián Piñera
What: New President of Chile. PhD in Economics from Hah-vahd. Vower of job creation. Oh, and thanks to his tycoon-ness as a LAN Chile magnate and other ventures, billionaire.
When: Elected Sunday, will start serving his four-year term in March
Where: CHEE-lay, as the kids call it — that long string bean of a country that hugs much of the Western edge of South America. It encompasses both the driest desert on Earth (in the North) and the Western Hemisphere’s closest reach to Antarctica (in the South).
Why: For one thing, the hugely popular Michelle Bachelet (approved of by more than two-thirds of her countrymen, according to some polls) could not run for a second consecutive term. That is the law in Chile.
Cocktail party morsel: Although Bachelet is, again, quite popular, Piñera is from the right-wing coalition. This is a big deal, because conservatives haven’t held the power since dictator General Augusto Pinochet was ousted in 1990.
Why this affects you: in three words — pretty pretty money.
Beautiful, unspoiled Chilean Patagonia. (We'll be doing a travel special on Chile and Patagonia soon.)
Why Piñera’s election affects you:
- Chile is the world’s top copper-producing nation; they’ve got enough to mine for another 200 years. China wants copper. Lots of copper. The more China digs roots into the Western Hemisphere, the more the potential for geopolitical alignment to change. Realigning such shifts usually means more government spending. And more taxes.
- Back in the 70s, Chile nationalized its copper industry. But this new president wants to sell off 20 percent to private businesses, which could open up opportunities for savvy investors.
- Speaking of geopolitics, there’s this guy called Chavez. And he’s not happy about this election. Let us unfold this:
You see, Pinera’s election is a bit of an anomaly: the trend on that continent has leaned left, not right. Uruguay just elected a leftist ex-guerilla into the presidency. Evo Morales of Bolivia, Cristina Kirchner of Argentina, and, most famously, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela are anything but right-wing. Those leaders tend to bring more socialist tendencies to their internal economic policies, which make them popular among the poor. And there are a lot of poor people in those countries.
A vineyard in Chile, near Santiago. The country's burgeoning wine industry suffered a slump in 2009, as did the rest of the country. Investors and oenophiles alike will want to pay attention to how the new "entrepreneurial presidency" affects the industry.
Chavez has expressed ambitions well beyond his country’s borders. The man is a master chest-beater who has loudly proclaimed admiration for and friendship with Fidel Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the like. And although some dismiss Chavez as a clown, others understand that he’s got just enough oil money to cause trouble. His favorite place to needle is Colombia, presided over by the continent’s other non-leftist president, Alvaro Uribe.
So: in one corner, you’ve got Uribe and Chile’s new president. In the other: Chavez, Morales and the other leftists, who make up the majority of the continent. Brazil (the biggest economic powerhouse in the region) has so far managed to be Switzerland.
And the U.S. — despite a partnership with Colombia in the so-called “War on Drugs” that siphons off billions of your tax dollars — has, as of late, largely ignored the whole damned continent.
But this will change. It must change, because Brazil and Chile are growing economically prominent, and will likely gain speed over the coming decades. So it’s good to keep an eye on potential inter-regional skirmishes.
It’s also prudent to be on the lookout for good investment opportunities in the continent — a subject we’ll revisit soon.
