After her father was tortured and died in one of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's prisons, Michelle Bachelet endured her own imprisonment and went into exile with her mother. But the pediatrician returned to Chile to devote herself to public service, and after turns as minister of health and defense, she was elected president in 2006. Her polls were down last year, but with much of her program implemented, she is popular again in the final year of her presidency. She spoke with Jimmy Langman in Santiago's La Moneda palace. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: How are Chile and Latin America faring in the global economic downturn?
BACHELET: For us, this economic crisis was no surprise. You need strong markets, but the market can not do it alone; this crisis shows the necessary role that state policies must have in overseeing financial markets and economies as a whole. We also need to restructure the Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF and the World Bank, created in a different era. They need not just a new influx of funds, but new strategies and a reform in governance, such as giving more representation to the developing countries they serve. Chile has a sound macroeconomy. When Chilean copper prices were high, we created a countercyclical fund to protect pensions and other social programs. This has powered $4 billion to fuel the economy and create jobs. We expect to create in the coming months around 200,000 new jobs. But the slowdown in worldwide growth will seriously affect the region. [In the future,] we cannot repeat the errors of the Washington consensus, when countries in the region grew and did not redistribute.
Chile has been criticized for the large gap between its rich and its poor. Is the Chilean model in need of reform?
Chile has done a lot to rid itself of poverty, especially extreme poverty, since the return to democracy. But we still have a ways to go toward greater equity. This country does not have a neoliberal economic model anymore. We have put in place a lot of policies that will ensure that economic growth goes hand in hand with social justice. There does not have to be trade-off between growth and social protection. A democracy does not mean much if it doesn't respond to the needs and will of its people.
President Barack Obama shook hands with American antagonist Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the Americas last week. How can the United States improve its relations with Latin America?
At the meeting, we all could really feel a new and positive climate for dealing with the region's issues. Our countries want to be treated as partners, and I thought President Obama made a good start by stressing that he intends to do just that.
Last year, under your leadership, the newly created Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) intervened to help solve Bolivia's internal political crisis. What is the future of that organization?
While UNASUR is just a year old, its 12 countries have immense resources and, if we work together, we can solve many of our common problems, such as energy. This continent has huge reserves of gas and oil. In addition, we have created a South American Defense Council to coordinate defense policies and promote peace, something we think is very important. We also seek universal access to health care and medicines across the region.
Do you think your presidency has changed the way Chileans view women in positions of leadership?
There has been a cultural shift. It is difficult to measure all that right now, but Chilean women have seen my presidency as a source of pride. Women are performing in jobs in Chile now that 20 or 30 years ago nobody would have dared to imagine. As a doctor, when I was minister of health and would go somewhere, little girls would come up to me and say, "I want to be like you one day, I want to be a doctor." Now, they tell me, "I want to be president just like you." All of us can dream as big as we want.
Has Chile finished the reconciliation process for victims of the Pinochet dictatorship?
Many have attained justice in the courts, but there is more to do. We need a museum that reminds future generations what happened so that Chileans will continue to learn from the past.