ORF-E
English
1 x 32 min
Worldwide

In South America, the political pendulum is swinging to the left again. Alongside Mexico, Colombia and Honduras, Chile, which long suffered from the after-effects of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, is undergoing a radical change. With 36-year-old Gabriel Boric, a former student leader has been elected president for the first time in Chile. World Journal reporter Julieta Rudich traveled to the troubled South American country, where the gap between rich and poor has grown enormously in recent years and high fuel prices have led to waves of protest. She has accompanied women workers who have built an entire neighborhood on top of a garbage dump during the pandemic – and she has watched the tug-of-war over a new constitution that aims to make Chile socially just. Women, indigenous people and other previously discriminated groups are now entering the political arena. Beyond the Andes, there is talk of the dawn of a new political era.