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Adem\u00e1s de tratar de mejorar las condiciones de la econom\u00eda chilena, Pi\u00f1era detall\u00f3 planes para ampliar la red de seguridad social, aprovechando los avances realizados por los anteriores Gobiernos de la Concertaci\u00f3n.<\/P>
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Pi\u00f1era rindi\u00f3 un homenaje a los cuatro presidentes de la Concertaci\u00f3n \u2013Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei, Ricardo Lagos y Michelle Bachelet\u2013 e hizo lo mismo que la presidenta Bachelet al prometer la eliminaci\u00f3n gradual de la imposici\u00f3n obligatoria del 7% para la salud que actualmente se descuenta tambi\u00e9n de los pagos de pensiones.<\/P>
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El presidente anunci\u00f3 adem\u00e1s un subsidio familiar \u201c\u00e9tico\u201d de hasta US$ 475 mensuales para las familias pobres que cumplan con ciertas condiciones como que sus hijos \u201casistan regularmente a la escuela o que quienes tengan edad para trabajar est\u00e9n trabajando, capacit\u00e1ndose o buscando trabajo\u201d.<\/P>
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\u201cParte del programa delineado el 21 de mayo no habr\u00eda parecido fuera de lugar en un discurso de la Concertaci\u00f3n\u201d, destaca Correa.<\/P>
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Introducir la inscripci\u00f3n autom\u00e1tica de los votantes y hacer que el voto sea voluntario, lo que a\u00f1adir\u00eda efectivamente 3,5 millones de chilenos al padr\u00f3n electoral, es otra ambici\u00f3n de larga data de la Concertaci\u00f3n que Pi\u00f1era adopt\u00f3 como suya.<\/P>
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\u201cFue el discurso de un presidente que inaugura un nuevo ciclo en la historia pol\u00edtica de nuestro pa\u00eds (\u2026) estableci\u00f3 t\u00e1citamente l\u00edneas de continuidad con el ciclo pol\u00edtico anterior\u201d, se\u00f1al\u00f3 \u00d3scar Godoy, profesor de ciencia pol\u00edtica de la Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Chile, en un informe publicado por el Centro de Estudios P\u00fablicos (CEP) de Santiago.<\/P>
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De manera similar a lo que ocurri\u00f3 con Aylwin, quien encabez\u00f3 el primer Gobierno de la Concertaci\u00f3n luego que el general Augusto Pinochet dejara el poder en 1990, el programa de Pi\u00f1era incorpora pol\u00edticas sociales y econ\u00f3micas iniciadas por los Gobiernos anteriores. <\/P>
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\u201cEs explicable, pero no razonable, que la actual oposici\u00f3n se sienta consternada por esta continuidad (\u2026) las pol\u00edticas de bien com\u00fan, desde el momento que ingresan a la esfera p\u00fablica, y en virtud del principio de publicidad, forman parte del patrimonio y la racionalidad p\u00fablica de la comunidad y no son de nadie, de ning\u00fan partido, fracci\u00f3n o grupo de personas, sino de todos los chilenos\u201d, sostuvo Godoy.<\/P>
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No obstante, Pi\u00f1era no es un clon de la Concertaci\u00f3n. El mandatario ha creado su propio estilo de gobernar basado en la eficiencia, los resultados y la responsabilidad. M\u00e1s all\u00e1 de las pol\u00edticas sociales su objetivo \u00faltimo, seg\u00fan Godoy, es crear las condiciones para que todos los chilenos, sin importar su origen, puedan alcanzar el \u00e9xito a trav\u00e9s del trabajo arduo y la determinaci\u00f3n.<\/P>
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Para ello, Pi\u00f1era aspira a erradicar la \u201cextrema pobreza\u201d para el 2014 y derrotar completamente la pobreza para el 2018. Tales metas no son nuevas, pero Pi\u00f1era puso el objetivo en t\u00e9rminos concretos, destacando que se requerir\u00eda menos del 1% del PIB para sacar a 3,5 millones de chilenos de la pobreza.<\/P>
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\u201cEn nuestro pa\u00eds derrotar la pobreza es una meta absolutamente posible de alcanzar para esta generaci\u00f3n y en esta d\u00e9cada\u201d, declar\u00f3 al Congreso.<\/P>
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Unidos por la Tragedia<\/STRONG><\/P> Como ha mostrado la historia, los terremotos pueden marcar el \u00e9xito o el fracaso de los presidentes de Chile.<\/P> El terremoto de 1938 dio al entonces presidente Pedro Aguirre, del Partido Radical de izquierda, el capital pol\u00edtico necesario para que el Congreso aprobara una legislaci\u00f3n destinada a crear una nueva entidad estatal concentrada en la reconstrucci\u00f3n del pa\u00eds y en estimular el desarrollo econ\u00f3mico.<\/P> Jorge Alessandri, el \u00faltimo presidente de centro derecha elegido democr\u00e1ticamente en Chile hasta la aparici\u00f3n de Pi\u00f1era y quien gobern\u00f3 entre 1958 y 1964, tuvo menos suerte con el mucho m\u00e1s destructivo terremoto de 1960.<\/P> Como Pi\u00f1era, Alessandri era un exitoso hombre de negocios. Antes de convertirse en Presidente hab\u00eda presidido la papelera CMPC y la Confederaci\u00f3n de la Producci\u00f3n y el Comercio (CPC) de Chile.<\/P> Y Pi\u00f1era tambi\u00e9n nombr\u00f3 a figuras del sector privado para su gabinete como el Ministro de Miner\u00eda Laurence Golborne, ex gerente general del grupo minorista Cencosud, y la ministra del Trabajo, Camila Merino, experta en recursos humanos que trabaj\u00f3 en el fabricante de productos qu\u00edmicos y fertilizantes SQM antes de convertirse en la gerente general del estatal Metro de Santiago.<\/P> Pero ambos l\u00edderes heredaron dos pa\u00edses muy distintos. En 1960, empobrecido tras a\u00f1os de mal manejo econ\u00f3mico, el pa\u00eds carec\u00eda de los recursos para superar el desastre solo.<\/P> Alessandri llam\u00f3 a la unidad tras el terremoto, pero el Gobierno perdi\u00f3 su popularidad inicial y se vio obligado a echar marcha atr\u00e1s respecto de muchas de sus reformas pro mercado para complacer a nuevos aliados, lo que marc\u00f3 el inicio de una crisis en la antigua derecha.<\/P> Cincuenta a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, el presidente Pi\u00f1era encabeza un pa\u00eds que se ha recuperado recientemente de la peor crisis econ\u00f3mica global desde la Gran Depresi\u00f3n y que a menudo se presenta como un ejemplo de disciplina fiscal.<\/P> Por supuesto, hay espacio para mejoras y, como Alessandri, Pi\u00f1era inst\u00f3 a un Gobierno de \u201cunidad nacional\u201d, un tema clave de su discurso tanto en t\u00e9rminos de la reconstrucci\u00f3n despu\u00e9s del terremoto como en los esfuerzos para convertirse en una naci\u00f3n desarrollada para fines de esta d\u00e9cada.<\/P> Sin embargo, un Gobierno de unidad nacional no incluye necesariamente a todos, advierte Correa.<\/P> \u201cAlguien siempre se queda afuera\u201d, sostiene, a\u00f1adiendo que los llamados a la unidad en la historia de Chile a menudo han marcado el primer paso en la creaci\u00f3n de una nueva coalici\u00f3n de Gobierno.<\/P> Una Nueva Forma<\/STRONG><\/P> Si bien muchos de los ex colaboradores del general Augusto Pinochet son miembros de la Alianza, la coalici\u00f3n de partidos que respaldaron a Pi\u00f1era en la campa\u00f1a electoral, el presidente cumpli\u00f3 una promesa de campa\u00f1a de no designar a ninguno de ellos en su gabinete.<\/P> Tambi\u00e9n se distanci\u00f3 de los partidos de la Alianza, que incluye a Renovaci\u00f3n Nacional (RN) y la Uni\u00f3n Dem\u00f3crata Independiente (UDI), al designar para su gabinete -en cambio- a figuras del sector privado y llegar incluso a la Democracia Cristiana (DC), el partido m\u00e1s de centro al interior de la Concertaci\u00f3n.<\/P> En ese mismo esp\u00edritu de bipartidismo, Pi\u00f1era nombr\u00f3 ministro de Defensa a Jaime Ravinet, destacada figura de la DC, y design\u00f3 al ex ministro de la Concertaci\u00f3n Jorge Rodr\u00edguez para que ocupara un puesto en el directorio de BancoEstado.<\/P> En tanto, liberados de las responsabilidades de Gobierno, los partidos de izquierda podr\u00edan tomar posturas m\u00e1s radicales en \u00e1reas como sectores controlados por el Estado y los derechos de los trabajadores y los sindicatos.<\/P> Ello podr\u00eda llevar a los dem\u00f3crata cristianos a romper antiguos lazos y tratar de emplazar su hogar pol\u00edtico en otro lado, en especial si el presidente est\u00e1 dispuesto a entregarles unas pocas se\u00f1ales de paz, se\u00f1al\u00f3 Correa.<\/P> El m\u00e1s disciplinado partido de derecha la Uni\u00f3n Dem\u00f3crata Independiente (UDI) podr\u00eda ser m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil de controlar, pero la decisi\u00f3n de entregar a Joaqu\u00edn Lav\u00edn, uno de sus figuras m\u00e1s importantes, la cartera clave de Educaci\u00f3n deber\u00eda limitar sus cr\u00edticas.<\/P> Y si Pi\u00f1era puede combinar un s\u00f3lido crecimiento econ\u00f3mico con progreso en \u00e1reas como educaci\u00f3n, empleo y seguridad, pronto podr\u00eda atraer a m\u00e1s seguidores, incluso entre los m\u00e1s f\u00e9rreos detractores de su elecci\u00f3n.<\/P> \u201cEsto en definitiva podr\u00eda permitirle formar v\u00ednculos con partes de la DC y quiz\u00e1s con otros\u201d, indica Correa.<\/P> En esta etapa, es muy pronto para decir si tal reestructuraci\u00f3n del mapa pol\u00edtico de Chile est\u00e1 cerca o para evaluar c\u00f3mo est\u00e1 cumpliendo el programa de Pi\u00f1era las metas delineadas en su discurso.<\/P> No obstante, el Presidente merece elogios por proyectar su programa m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de las necesidades inmediatas de reconstrucci\u00f3n y continuar desde donde qued\u00f3 el Gobierno anterior, en especial en lo que respecta a las pol\u00edticas sociales.<\/P> Pi\u00f1era enfrenta desaf\u00edos similares a los de otros presidentes en momentos clave en la historia de Chile, incluidos Alessandri a comienzos de la d\u00e9cada de los 60 y Aylwin a principios de la d\u00e9cada de los 90, pero representa un nuevo tipo de l\u00edder para el siglo XXI que est\u00e1 dispuesto a dejar a un lado las diferencias partidistas en pro de la unidad nacional, la eficiencia y el progreso.<\/P> Dentro de a\u00f1os el discurso del 21 de mayo de Pi\u00f1era podr\u00eda recordarse no s\u00f3lo como el primer discurso del Presidente tras el terremoto del 27 febrero, sino que como el comienzo de un nuevo cap\u00edtulo en la historia de Chile que aprovecha los logros del pasado para crear un futuro mejor.<\/P> Tom Azzopardi<\/STRONG> trabaja como periodista freelance en Santiago<\/P><\/p>\n President Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era\u2019s first State of the Union speech given on May 21 was one of the most highly anticipated speeches since Chile\u2019s return to democracy 20 years ago.<\/p>\n It was the first May 21 speech by an elected center-right president in more than half a century and the timing of the speech was crucial. Not only is this year Chile\u2019s Bicentennial as an independent nation but it came just over two months after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded wrought terrible destruction across a large part of the country.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, the speech focused on the government\u2019s reconstruction plan, which has dominated the President\u2019s agenda in his first few months in office.<\/p>\n \u201cThe earthquake has played to the President\u2019s political strengths, allowing him to act the efficient manager,\u201d said Sofia Correa, a lecturer at the University of Chile\u2019s law school and a leading historian of Chile\u2019s political right.<\/p>\n According to Correa, the speech was \u201chighly successful,\u201d managing to silence critics through a range of measures and his ambition to introduce a \u201cnew way of governing.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting with reconstruction, Mr. Pi\u00f1era\u2019s speech highlighted the government\u2019s considerable achievements to date that have included getting 1.25 million children back to school despite badly damaged or destroyed infrastructure; building 50,000 emergency shelters for families left homeless; and, reestablishing water supplies across the worst hit region.<\/p>\n But this is just the beginning and much remains to be done. The state\u2019s reconstruction bill will run up to US$ 8.4 billion, which Finance Minister Felipe Larra\u00edn has said will be covered by fiscal measures including a temporary hike in corporate income tax, shuffling the budget, a new royalty scheme and Chile\u2019s first ever global peso bond issue.<\/p>\n Mr. Pi\u00f1era also called on the private sector, including companies and non-government organizations, to make sacrifices and play their part in the reconstruction.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a huge effort and it will be mainly up to the big companies and strongest sectors to help finance reconstruction projects,\u201d said Pi\u00f1era.<\/p>\n As is traditional, he also used the speech to set out his program for the coming years. And, despite the challenges brought by the earthquake, much of his original program remains intact including measures to boost job creation, increase economic growth, fight crime, improve education and healthcare and deepen democracy.<\/p>\n President Pi\u00f1era returned to pledges made on the campaign trail, such as creating 200,000 new jobs a year. He also stood by his goal to achieve average economic growth of 6% annually during his term and promised to increase investment to 28% of GDP from 22%.<\/p>\n Small and medium-size companies, a key pillar of the new government\u2019s program, will enjoy an income tax exemption for profits reinvested in their business. The government has also reduced the time needed to start a new business to 16 from 27 days, which will benefit entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n But the success of Mr. Pi\u00f1era\u2019s program will depend to a large extent on how the world economy behaves over the coming months and years, notes Hugo Fazio, an economist at the left-leaning National Center for Alternative Development Studies (CENDA).<\/p>\n The government\u2019s fiscal plan, as outlined by Minister Larra\u00edn, relies heavily on tax revenues derived from an improvement in economic growth during the next four years.<\/p>\n But given the open nature of Chile\u2019s economy and its dependence on copper exports, how its major trading partners fare will also be important. \u201cChile is vulnerable to an extraordinary extent to the world economy, especially China\u2019s\u2026 how can the government have an influence over this?\u201d asked Fazio.<\/p>\n But if all goes according to plan, Chile will become a developed country by the end of this decade which means not only economic growth but also social development.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore this decade is over\u2026 Chile will have achieved integrated development that brings opportunities for material and spiritual progress for all our children,\u201d Pi\u00f1era said in his speech.<\/p>\n More of the Same<\/strong><\/p>\n As well as looking to make the Chilean economy leaner and meaner, Pi\u00f1era outlined plans to extend the social safety net, building on progress by previous Concertaci\u00f3n governments.<\/p>\n Pi\u00f1era paid homage to all four Concertaci\u00f3n presidents \u2013 Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei, Ricardo Lagos, and Michelle Bachelet \u2013 and took a page from the Ms. Bachelet\u2019s book on pension reform by promising to gradually eliminate a 7% mandatory healthcare contribution currently discounted from pensions.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cSome of the program outlined on May 21 would not have looked out of place in a Concertaci\u00f3n speech,\u201d noted Correa.<\/p>\n Introducing automatic voter registration and making voting voluntary, effectively adding 3.5 million Chileans to the electorate, is another long-held Concertaci\u00f3n ambition that Pi\u00f1era has adopted as his own.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the speech of a President marking the start of a new cycle in our country\u2019s political history\u2026 but also tacitly establishing continuity with the previous cycle,\u201d said Oscar Godoy, a political science professor at the Catholic University, in a report published by the Santiago think-tank Centro de Estudios P\u00fablicos (CEP).<\/p>\n Similar to Aylwin, who led the first Concertaci\u00f3n government after Augusto Pinochet stepped aside in 1990, Pi\u00f1era\u2019s program incorporates social and economic policies begun by the previous government.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s perfectly understandable, though not very reasonable, that the opposition should be concerned about this continuity\u2026 good public policies should not be the property of any one party,\u201d said Godoy.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Pi\u00f1era is no Concertaci\u00f3n clone. He has created his own style of governing based on efficiency, results and accountability. Beyond social policies his ultimate aim, according to Godoy, is to create the conditions so that all Chileans, regardless of their background, can succeed through hard work and determination.<\/p>\n To that end, Mr. Pi\u00f1era aims to eradicate \u201cextreme poverty\u201d by 2014 and completely wipeout poverty by 2018. Such goals are not new, but Pi\u00f1era put the target in concrete terms, noting that it would require less than 1% of GDP to lift 3.5 million Chileans out of poverty.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our country, beating poverty is an absolutely achievable goal during this generation and during this decade,\u201d he told Congress.<\/p>\n United by Tragedy<\/strong><\/p>\n As the past has shown, earthquakes can make or break Chile\u2019s presidents.<\/p>\n The 1938 earthquake gave then-President Pedro Aguirre, of the left-wing Radical party, the necessary political capital to push legislation through congress to create a new state entity focused on rebuilding the country and stimulating economic development.<\/p>\n Jorge Alessandri, Chile\u2019s last democratically elected center-right president who governed from 1958 to 1964, was less lucky with the much more destructive 1960 earthquake.<\/p>\n Like Pi\u00f1era, Alessandri was a successful businessman. Prior to becoming president he chaired the paper company CMPC and Chile\u2019s national business association, the Confederaci\u00f3n de la Producci\u00f3n y el Comercio (CPC).<\/p>\n And Pi\u00f1era has also named figures with a background in the private sector to his cabinet such as Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, a former CEO of retail group Cencosud, and Labor Minister Camila Merino, a human resources expert who worked for chemical and fertilizer producer SQM before heading up Santiago’s state-owned Metro.<\/p>\n But the leaders inherited two very different countries. In 1960, impoverished after years of economic mismanagement, the country lacked the resources to overcome the disaster alone.<\/p>\n Alessandri pleaded for unity after the earthquake but the government lost its early popularity and was forced to backtrack on many of its pro-market reforms to please new allies, marking the start of a crisis of the old right.<\/p>\n Fifty years later, President Pi\u00f1era leads a country that has recently recovered from the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression and is often held up as an example of fiscal discipline.<\/p>\n Of course, there is room for improvement and, like Alessandri, Mr. Pi\u00f1era has called for a government of \u201cnational unity,\u201d a key theme in his speech both in terms of reconstruction after the earthquake and in the push to become a developed nation by the end of this decade.<\/p>\n But a government of national unity does not necessarily include everyone, warns Correa.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone is always left out,\u201d she said, adding that calls for unity in Chile\u2019s history have often marked the first step in the creation of a new governing coalition.<\/p>\n A New Way<\/strong><\/p>\n Although many of General Augusto Pinochet\u2019s former collaborators are members of the Alianza coalition that supported Pi\u00f1era during the election, the President has upheld a campaign pledge not to appoint any of them to his cabinet.<\/p>\n He has also distanced himself from the parties in the Alianza coalition including the National Renovation party (RN) and the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), filling his cabinet instead with figures from the private sector and reaching out to the Christian Democrats (DC), the most centrist of the parties in the Concertaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n In the same spirit of bipartisanship, Mr. Pi\u00f1era has named prominent DC figure Jaime Ravinet as his Defense Minister and former Concertaci\u00f3n Minister Jorge Rodriguez on the board of state-owned BancoEstado.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, freed from the responsibilities of government, leftwing parties could take up more radical positions in areas such as state-controlled industries and the rights of workers and unions.<\/p>\n That could lead centrist Christian Democrats to break old bonds and seek to make their political home elsewhere, especially if the President is prepared to throw a few more olive branches their way, said Correa.<\/p>\n The more disciplined UDI party could be more difficult to control, but the decision to give Joaquin Lavin, one of its leading lights, the key education portfolio should limit its fire.<\/p>\n And if Mr. Pi\u00f1era can combine strong economic growth with progress in areas including education, employment and security, he may soon attract more followers even among those fiercely opposed to his election.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could eventually allow him to form links with parts of the DC and perhaps others,\u201d said Correa.<\/p>\n At this stage, it\u2019s too early to tell if such a reshaping of Chile\u2019s political map is at hand or to evaluate how well Mr. Pi\u00f1era\u2019s program is meeting the goals outlined in his speech.<\/p>\n The President does, however, deserve applause for projecting his program beyond the immediate needs of reconstruction and continuing from where the previous government left off, especially in terms of social policies.<\/p>\n Pi\u00f1era faces similar challenges to other presidents at key times in Chile\u2019s history including Alessandri in the early 1960s and Aylwin in the early 1990s, but he represents a new type of leader for the 21st century who is willing to put party differences aside in the interest of national unity, efficiency and progress.<\/p>\n Years from now Pi\u00f1era\u2019s May 21 speech could be remembered not just as the first speech after the February 27 earthquake, but as the beginning of new chapter in Chilean history that builds on the achievements of the past to create a better future.<\/p>\n Tom Azzopardi<\/strong> is a freelance journalist based in Santiago<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" El mensaje a la naci\u00f3n del Presidente Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era el 21 de mayo fue uno de los discursos m\u00e1s esperados desde el regreso de Chile a la democracia hace 20 a\u00f1os.<\/P> Fue el primer discurso de un 21 de mayo pronunciado por un presidente de centro-derecha elegido democr\u00e1ticamente en m\u00e1s de medio siglo y el momento del discurso fue crucial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","news_tax":[],"user_type":[],"class_list":["post-4299","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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El resultado fue la Corporaci\u00f3n de Fomento de la Producci\u00f3n (CORFO), la agencia estatal de desarrollo econ\u00f3mico, que contin\u00faa hasta hoy y que fue un importante factor en la industrializaci\u00f3n de Chile, al ayudar a crear las industrias del acero, la electricidad y el az\u00facar del pa\u00eds.<\/P>
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Esto se explica en parte por los antecedentes de la familia de Pi\u00f1era. El presidente era miembro de Renovaci\u00f3n Nacional y su hermano Jos\u00e9 Pi\u00f1era fue ministro del Trabajo de Pinochet, pero la familia Pi\u00f1era tiene estrechos v\u00ednculos con la DC: su padre fue embajador de Chile en Estados Unidos durante el mandato del presidente Frei Montalva y otro de sus hermanos, Pablo Pi\u00f1era, ocup\u00f3 varios cargos en los Gobiernos de la Concertaci\u00f3n.<\/P>
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The President also announced an \u201cethical\u201d family subsidy of up to US$ 475 a month for poor families that meet certain conditions like sending their children to school and looking for work if the parents are unemployed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/sites\/default\/files\/ING_OSCAR_GODOY.jpg\")
The result was the state\u2019s economic development agency, the Corporacion de Fomento de la Producci\u00f3n (CORFO), which continues today and was a major factor in Chile\u2019s industrialization, helping to create the country\u2019s steel, power and sugar industries.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/sites\/default\/files\/hugo_fazio_ING.jpg\")
This is partly explained by Mr. Pi\u00f1era\u2019s family background. He was a member of the National Renovation party and his brother, Jos\u00e9 Pi\u00f1era, was labor minister under Pinochet, but the Pi\u00f1era family has close ties to the DC: his father served as U.S. ambassador under President Frei Montalva and his other brother, Pablo Pi\u00f1era, has held several government posts under the Concertaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
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