COLUMN | Certainties: That Which Does Not Arrive

Certainties depend on political leadership that can organize its ranks and demonstrate that everyone is united behind the same project. The message relates to the effectiveness and efficiency of the state in addressing problems, something that is currently under significant scrutiny.

A small country like ours needs soft power that provides a relative position and allows it to strengthen its connections with key partners and those actors who will invest in it and contribute to its development. The country’s image is fundamental, along with the certainties that the current government can provide.

It is true that many issues are matters of state, but the leadership exercised by governments cannot be overlooked. Their decisions can lead us to success or failure.

The Minister of Finance in London, during Chile Day, stated that foreign investment is arriving and will continue to do so. Referring to lithium and green hydrogen, he spoke about Chile in a very optimistic manner. The next day, the president of the Central Bank presented a more realistic outlook: the state would have less money as it projected lower growth for the economy.

Many topics were discussed at the meeting, but while that was happening in London, those of us who were there gradually learned about the developments in the audio case and how important names associated with those thousands of pages of WhatsApp were emerging one by one.

The certainties presented in London were collapsing in the media in Chile.

These certainties depend on political leadership that can organize its ranks and show that everyone is united behind the same project. The message relates to the effectiveness and efficiency of the state in addressing problems, something that is currently under significant scrutiny.

And how could it not be! If the project began with an Interior Minister who expected to enter Temucuicui and be welcomed with hugs rather than gunfire, and with pardons for those who had previously destroyed important commercial areas of the country while the victims were sidelined. Ultimately, with a project that only prioritized those who were destroying the certainties that a small country like Chile needs to build its soft power.

Thus, the first year of government ended, and as the second began, the first disorders appeared within the ruling coalition. The apple of discord was the fast-track legislative process on security, as there was a group that was extremely bothered by the use of force by the state.

The leadership of governments matters, and the type of leader does as well. And in Chile, both are failing.

A leadership that provides certainties allows for sustaining that optimistic discourse of the Minister of Finance in London because it conveys the reality that we are not immune to problems, and reassurance that we have the capacity to solve them. A capacity that is now more than ever in doubt.

We are entering an electoral period that challenges leaderships, and that should place the strong first, those who build certainties rather than destroy them. The challenge lies with the political class, the responsibility rests with all of us who, through the power of our vote, must choose those who will best lead Chile.