COLUMN | The First Quarter of a Century

Aiming to reduce homicides is not a genuine aspiration; rather, it is merely a way to measure actions. The goal should always be to build the State. Why? So that the future of Chile can grow freely and in peace.

2025 marks the end of the first quarter of the 21st century and the beginning of a new one. It will be a year defined by the presidential election and by the violence that seems relentless in Chile. The survival of the State will be the great challenge. Countering the advance of organized crime, restoring the rule of law where it has been lost, and reclaiming sovereignty across the entire national territory. An ambitious but necessary goal, as failing to advance in this area risks losing control.

2024 expressed itself violently, ending the trend that Minister Tohá spoke of regarding breaking the upward trend of homicides. Rather, it demonstrated the opposite. To think that a new administration will radically change this situation is somewhat naive. As things stand, ending homicides overnight is a utopia, but aspiring to address the problem responsibly, with conviction and strength, is not.

In 2025, we must all work at full speed to address the phenomenon behind the symptom. In this sense, challenges such as regaining border control, sovereignty, territorial control, prisons, ports, and maintaining zero tolerance for corruption should guide our actions.

Protecting our national identity and restoring peace to Chileans is fundamental. The image of Prat drawn with drones over the sky of Iquique circulating on all social media embodies this. We look to our heroes because they embody the values we need to regain control. Chile was built upon them, and like a bright light in the darkness, they should guide the ongoing construction of the State.

Aiming to reduce homicides is not a genuine aspiration; rather, it is merely a way to measure actions. The goal should always be to build the State. Why? So that the future of Chile can grow freely and in peace.

Achieving this is much more than reducing deaths. It involves taking responsibility from the beginning of life to the end. It means ensuring that more children are born in Chile, that their mothers have more opportunities for development, that none of them are left outside the system or become victims of criminal groups, and that they can enjoy life freely. It is about continuing to build the exemplary State of Latin America.

These have been difficult years, but that should not discourage us; rather, it should give us strength to move forward. If life were a 30-centimeter ruler, we would be facing difficulties at the 15-centimeter mark, but the ruler has 29 more centimeters of opportunities.

Let the problem, no matter how complex it may seem, not cloud the outlook. Let us close the quarter-century by learning from our mistakes, rebuilding trust, and planting seeds so that whoever leads us into a new quarter-century has all the tools they need to continue building Chile.

Today we are talking about the children born this year who will witness the beginning of the 22nd century. Their challenge will be to deal with technology advancing at an unimaginable speed; they will know a different world, one whose success will depend on the seeds sown today.