Pinochet’s Ghost: Surging Far Right vs Rising Left, as Chile’s Elections Loom

Chile is set to have its first elections following the 2019 uprising, which was provoked by growing inequality and fueled by a violent and deadly police response. But as the left has made gains, so too has the far right in Chile.

Here to break it all down and discuss how it fits into the broader Latin American scene, including Peru and Argentina, is Renato Vélez, a left-wing Chilean activist and researcher currently completing a PhD in Latin American studies

TIME CODES:
0:00 Intro
0:56 The rise of far right presidential candidate José Antonio Kast
16:37 Sharp increase of migrants in Chile
18:55 Scapegoating Maduro, Fidel, Russia, the UN & George Soros
23:08 Steve Bannon’s far right Bolsonaro network
25:59 Argentina’s far right
29:38 Why Pinochet was never held accountable
34:08 Who is the left candidate Gabriel Boric?
39:51 Why did the communists lose to Gabriel Boric?
45:11 Gabriel Boric vs José Antonio Kast
49:54 What the 2019 uprising accomplished
53:07 Systematic right-wing attack on the constitutional referendum
56:19 Indigenous Mapuches rebellion
1:11:56 Pedro Castillo under attack in Peru
1:18:54 Argentina’s left
1:23:01 What’s behind the Latin American left’s successes & failures?