Chile’s leader hopeful despite growing setbacks

When I interviewed President Michelle Bachelet earlier this week, there were news reports that she was ill or secluded and depressed by the latest polls showing that 75 percent of the Chilean people disapprove of her presidency. But if she was any of that, she didn’t show it.

Looking calm and confident during the interview at the presidential palace, she said that Chile — like much of South America — is suffering from an adverse international climate caused by China’s economic slowdown. She estimated that Chile’s economic growth will fall from 5 percent annually in recent years to about 2.3 percent this year.

To make things worse, recent political corruption scandals, including her son’s murky land purchase deal, and rising street crime rates have eroded trust in politicians and public institutions in a country that had long prided itself on being one of Latin America’s least corrupt and safest countries.

But Bachelet rejected claims by many Chileans that her leftist government deserves much of the blame for Chile’s current state of gloom.

To continue reading this article click The Miami Herald