Is U.S. enthusiasm for Chile as a model for other nations in Latin America bad for Chile? For Chile’s La Tercera, columnist Carlos Ominami writes that while it was great to host President Obama, the perception that Chile is a ‘good pupil’ of Washington also makes it appear to Chile’s neighbors that it is a ‘a bad colleague, obsequious toward the teacher and disdainful toward the rest of the class.’
For La Tercera, Carlos Ominami writes in part:
Chile, unfortunately, has for many years been playing the role of best pupil in the class. Lamentably, what began during the dictatorship with the famous Farewell to Latin America by Joaquín Lavín, has not been rectified by later developments. It has been often repeated that ‘we’re a good house in a bad neighborhood.’ And with much condescension, a pretentious and absurd idea has been touted: that Chile is a universally-valid model of political transition and economical development. The Chilean transition has been a very unique experience, with its own greatness and misery. It cannot be understood without the prior collapse of democracy and 17 years of dictatorship. In other words, in order to replicate our experience, one would first have to pass through great tragedy, which we cannot wish on anyone. That is why we are an experience and not a model. When we accept that we are a model, we affirm our role as a good pupil, but a bad colleague, obsequious toward the teacher and disdainful toward the rest of the class.
President Obama’s agenda for this visit was intense, but he stayed less than 24 hours in our country. In contrast, Chile will remain a permanent part of the region. It is a fact that among the most important problems we face is the unresolved conflict with Bolivia and Peru’s questioning of our maritime borders – and let’s not forget about the pending differences with Argentina over the demarcation of Campo de Hielo Sur [the Southern Patagonian Ice Field].
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