Chilean President Gabriel Boric attended the inauguration of his Bolivian counterpart, the center-right Rodrigo Paz, this Saturday. When he had already taken office in the seats of the Bolivian Legislative Assembly, the Argentine head of state, Javier Milei, entered La Paz, accompanied by other Latin American leaders. The presidents of Uruguay, Ecuador and Paraguay, Yamandú Orsi, Daniel Noboa and Santiago Peña respectively, greeted the libertarian presence with a handshake and even a hug. Boric, however, remained seated in his seat while shaking Milei’s hand.
After taking the oath before the Legislative Power, Paz thanked the presence of the five Latin American presidents present: “In Argentina I learned solidarity as a child, when we were in exile, and by eating what in Bolivia is called ‘common pot’. In Chile, I don’t forget the neighborhood of Macul, even in that exile. And in Ecuador, there I learned to ride a bicycle”.
Disagreements between the Chilean left and the Argentine far right have existed since before Milei arrived at the Casa Rosada in 2023. When he was on the campaign trail, the libertarian attended a forum in Santiago de Chile where he said: “Just as we hope to get rid of the Kirchnerist plague in Argentina, I hope that you have the happiness and the height to be able to get rid of this Boric impoverisher too.” When the Argentine was elected, the president of Chile congratulated him on social networks, assuring that he would work “tirelessly” to keep the two nations, which share 5,300 kilometers of border, “united and collaborating for the well-being of all”. He also attended its inauguration, as did the republican José Antonio Kast, invited by Milei.
In the last two years there have been a series of clashes, such as last December, when Milei’s Economy Minister, Luis Caputo, declared in an interview that “Chile is governed by a communist who is about to sink it”, which prompted the Chilean Foreign Ministry to send a note of protest. The traditional right sided in Boric’s defense, but Kast supported the words of the trans-Andean minister: “Caputo didn’t tell lies. We are governed by a left-wing government.”
In another episode that put the diplomacy of the two countries to the test, the Chilean said: “We presidents pass, but the institutions and the people remain. I will not refer to the president of Argentina with adjectives or insults, as he is accustomed to doing.”
This Saturday’s cold greeting, in the first participation of a Chilean president in a Bolivian inauguration in 19 years, comes just nine days before the presidential and parliamentary elections in Chile and four months after Boric leaves La Moneda. During the campaign Kast, who demonstrated great harmony with Milei, used him as an example on some occasions. In August, for example, when asked about the governability he could offer in a possible Government, he recalled that many said that Milei “was a danger for Argentina and today everyone is talking about the Argentine miracle, beware of analysts”.
