Boric criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine and says it caused price hikes in Chile
The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, spoke before the UN on Tuesday making a scathing criticism of Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, also pointing out that this war generated a rise in prices in Western economies.
“The unjust war of aggression unleashed by Russia in Ukraine pushed up the price of fuel and caused shortages of grains and fertilizers, causing a strong impact on our economy and, surely, also on that of many of you,” Boric told the ONU.
The Chilean president also referred to the trade war between the US and China, during the Trump administration, as well as the pandemic, “destabilized the global economy and also affected ours,” speaking of Chile.
Boric referred to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela saying that it has “generated a migratory flow that is unprecedented in our region and in our country, putting tremendous pressure on our institutions and our society.”
On the climate crisis, a common theme in the General Assembly, Boric said that the climate crisis affects the Americas “with particular force” and also, “particularly the Caribbean and the life systems of our people,” he said.
Chile’s social crisis
The president of Chile also spoke of the intense political process that he is going through and said that, by sharing this experience, he hopes that those attending the UN draw their own lessons.
“We are a country that has been searching for its own path to dignity for a long time,” Boric said. “And although, during the democratic governments of recent years, poverty was notably reduced and there were important advances in social matters, it is undeniable that the development model that we adopted in Chle has maintained a high concentration of wealth, leading us to be one of the … of the most unequal countries in the world”.
“This inequality, as it surely happens in other places, has hindered our path to development. But not only that. It is a latent threat to democracy, since it fractures society itself, destroys social cohesion and, therefore, ends up being an impediment to understand each other and build together a future that is freer and fairer”, said Boric when speaking of the social outbreak in his country in 2019.
The president, who has been in office since March 2022, denounced “a serious violation of human rights” with an “uncontrolled repression that ended with deaths, injuries and more than 400 victims of ocular trauma, product of the action of the State “.
These actions, Boricas said, must be repaired “and they will be.”
