Isabel Allende, the daughter of deposed Chilean president Salvador Allende, is “heading toward” running for leadership of the country’s socialist party, she said, a role that would put her in prime position for an eventual shot at the presidency.
Isabel Allende (not the well-known author, who is a more distant relative) is currently the head of the Chilean Senate. That role ends next year and she is holding talks as to whether she should put her name forward for the Socialist Party of Chile leadership contest in April next year, she told journalists on Friday.
“Some [party members] feel my name is generating a certain consensus,” she said. “I will have to make a decision [following talks]... I think things are heading that way.”
Photo: Reuters
Allende’s name has appeared in local media in recent weeks as a possible candidate for the 2017 presidential elections, in which incumbent socialist Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is barred from running under Chile’s constitution.
It was “premature” to talk about running for the presidency, said Allende, but she did not rule it out.
“There’s three-and-a-half years to go, and that’s a very long time in politics. Time will tell,” she said.
Other possible contenders include Chilean Minister of the Interior Rodrigo Penailillo and ex-Socialist Party member and two-time presidential candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami.
The Allende surname still resonates strongly in Chile, more than 41 years after Salvador Allende committed suicide in the La Moneda presidential palace rather than surrender to armed forces who had mounted a coup.
Salvador Allende was elected as president of Chile in 1970 at the height of the Cold War, at the head of the “Popular Unity” movement that sought a radical program of nationalization and land reform.
In the teeth of strong US and conservative opposition, his inexperienced government struggled, and three years later, his project in tatters, his government was overthrown in the coup, which ushered in 17 years of brutal dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet.
The events still deeply divide Chile, with some idolizing Allende as a martyr and others criticizing him for bringing an end to long years of stability. However, with the passing years, polls show diminishing support for Pinochet and an increasing appreciation for Allende, who is revered by the vocal student movement and whose name figures on streets and schools throughout the country.
“The name of Salvador Allende keeps on growing in our country,” said his daughter, who spent the dictatorship years in exile in Mexico.
“It touches me closely, because of course people come up to me in the street to tell me — I remember. We will never forget,” she said.
Allende, who also spoke passionately about the need to reform Chile’s education system and Pinochet-era constitution, both pillars of Bachelet’s program, has had a long political career in Congress, which she joined on the return to democracy in 1990.
“Although I feel tremendously proud and emotional about my name, I have a trajectory, not just a name,” she said.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS