After assuming as President of the Republic on March 11, Gabriel Boric must define his definitive residence. Chile is one of the few countries in the region that does not have an official residence, such as the Quinta de Olivos (Argentina) or the Palacio de la Alvorada (Brazil), so you should look for a home that meets the comfort conditions and security. For this, his apartment in the neighborhood of Bellas Artes and the Palacio La Moneda has already been discarded.
In addition to studying the names that will make up his cabinet, Gabriel Boric will have to decide what his official residence will be when he takes office on March 11. Faced with this task, He has already ruled out his apartment in Santiago and the Palacio de La Moneda, the seat of the Government.
Boric, who at the age of 35 is the youngest and most voted President-Elect in Chilean history, has lived on a lease since he left his family home in the commune of Punta Arenas, Magallanes region.
It is the first time, since the return to democracy, that a head of state he has no home of his own.
In that sense, the apartment he rents in the Bellas Artes neighborhood with his partner, Irina Karamanos, was immediately discarded. This, since does not meet the minimum security parameters such as, for example, having more than one access.
Separate work from private life
For a few weeks, La Moneda was one of the options that his team considered, despite the fact that It has been uninhabited for more than 70 years as an official residence.
“The last president who lived there was Carlos Ibáñez del Campo in 1958. His successor, Jorge Alessandri, had an apartment in the center and established the tradition that leaders live in their own residences, ”explained Pía Montealegre, heritage expert at the University of Chile.
The palace, with four floors and regarding 20 thousand square meters, is one of the first neoclassical constructions in Chile and was conceived to mint coins in colonial times.
It was President Manuel Bulnes who reformed it in mid-1846 and made it an official residence for a century.
The building, in the heart of the capital and surrounded by shops, banks and offices, “It was no longer inhabited because the rooms were not very practical”Montealegre pointed out.
Furthermore, he added that the residential area was destroyed during the bombing that took place for the coup in 1973. For this reason, an extensive work would have to be done in the event that you want to reoccupy it.
This option was ruled out by Boric himself, ensuring that “The conditions are not there and it is important to separate the workplace from the place where you sleep.”
Outside the eastern sector?
Chile is one of the few countries in the region that does not have an official residence, such as the Quinta de Olivos (Argentina) or the Palacio de la Alvorada (Brazil).
In the 2000s, it was thought to build a stable presidential house in the Cerrillos area, but the project ended up in failure.
“The public welcomes that presidents are treated more as citizens than princes and that they live more in common residences than in palaces”, assured Montealegre.
All the leaders, from Salvador Allende (1970-1973) to Sebastián Piñera (2018-2022), have lived in personal residences in the communes with greater resources of the capital, such as Las Condes, Providencia and La Reina, in the so-called “Oriente from Santiago”.
So did General Augusto Pinochet, who during the 17 years of the dictatorship lived in a large house in Las Condes, which was the official home of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
If Boric chooses another neighborhood to live in as of March 11, “It would be the first time that a President lives in a middle-income commune”said Mauricio Morales, from the University of Talca.
“I am sure that there are residential neighborhoods in San Miguel and other communes where security can be guaranteed as well as in the east. It would be a very strong signal in symbolic terms in this classist and segmented country “said political scientist Claudia Heiss.
The debate around Boric’s future residence may be a “metaphor” for how he is going to rule, “with a tendency towards the symbolic, but with certain restrictions inherent to the shit,” said Rodrigo Pérez de Arce, from the Institute of Studies of the Society (IES).
For Jaime Abredapo, from the San Sebastián University, the deputy for the Magallanes region wants “Send the message that he is just another citizen, with the same pollution and transportation problems.”
“It is a new way of governing”, he concluded.
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