Baquedano Square, in downtown Santiago, the epicenter of the 2019 protests in Chile, experienced tension again this Friday (17th), two days before the second round of the presidential election. On Sunday (19), the ultra-rightist José Antonio Kast and the leftist Gabriel Boric face off at the polls.
The square, also called Dignidad, was the scene of a demonstration on Thursday over the death of the widow of dictator Augusto Pinochet, Lucía Hiriart — activists gathered to celebrate the news and criticize the military regime (1973-1990). At dawn, after the dispersion, an intervention was carried out at the site by supporters of Kast, who painted half of the stone base of the monument to General Baquedano.
The soldier’s statue remained at the site until March, when authorities removed it for fear it would not resist attacks at the protests. Now half the plinth was painted white, hiding insults to Lucía Hiriart that had been spray-painted on Thursday afternoon; the other half continued with the interventions carried out by the anti-Pinochetistas.
Kast’s supporters also brought grass, planted flowers, and arranged the sidewalk facing the white-painted part, while the other side was left with trampled grass and empty bottles of sparkling wine from the day before. The image, on Friday morning, was the symbol of a country divided between the two forces in dispute on Sunday.
At the end of the day, anti-Pinochetistas returned to the square, guarded by police, and stretched a banner on the pedestal with the words: “The right died yesterday.” An image of Kast with a red spot on her forehead was also pasted onto the white-painted part, simulating a gunshot.
The ultra-right postulant did not comment on the intervention, but several of his supporters did. The president of the National Renewal Party, Mario Desbordes, which makes up the alliance that supports Kast, said that it was his party’s militants who carried out the action.
He said: “Yesterday in Baquedano square they sang and danced with an impressive level of hatred. Our young people are in a different position. [da dos manifestantes de esquerda], intend to show what we want for Chile: a beautiful meeting place. They made an enormous effort to put grass and flowers back in and paint the base of the monument. This is the Chile we want.”
Gabriel Boric, in response, mocked the praise given to the intervention. “In our government, we will work so that all squares are colorful and flowery, not just half of them,” he wrote on social media.
The campaign was intensely marked by exchanges between the two candidates, reflecting the polarization of the country. Kast won the first round with 28% of the vote, against Boric’s 25.6%. The latest poll that could be released on Sunday’s intentions, by the Cadem Institute, showed the leftist in front, with 40% of the preference, against 35% — and another 25% of undecided.
The closing events of the race, held this Thursday, symbolized movements by both in the second round: nods to moderation —a strategy to try to win over voters in the center and the large portion of those who still claim to be without a candidate —, but without sparing provocations to the respective rival.
Boric, in a speech at Almagro Park, said he is attentive to requests made in the protests that shook the country in 2019. “The demonstrations are alive, they are asking for answers and our candidacy is the one that can provide that.” He nudged Kast when he said that, unlike his opponent, he is in the year 2021, “where being against equal marriage is a step backwards.”
The ultra-rightist, in turn, gathered supporters in Araucano Park and also launched attacks. He said that the rival was “not a bad person, but he is in bad company and has bad ideas”. He also reinforced the criticism he made in recent debates, that Boric had changed his image a lot, in an electoral strategy, and that this “is a falsehood”
This Friday, Gabriel Prieto, 28, voter of the leftist who appeared at Dignidad square, told the leaf: “Flowers, grass and cleaning is what they show now as a sign of peace? What peace is this, without saying where are the disappeared of the dictatorship? Without releasing the political prisoners?”
Around the square, cars honked their horns, with flags of Chile and both candidates.
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