In the midst of the crisis caused by the rape allegations against the now former Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, negative electoral results for the left-wing conglomerate and a generalized crisis of confidence that keeps Gabriel Boric’s government looking for a way out, at least , dignified, the statements made – at the beginning of October – by the Ukrainian ambassador to Chile, Yurii Diudin, went almost unnoticed, in which he indicated that with the Chilean Foreign Minister, Alberto van Klaveren, they have discussed the possibility that President Boric visit Ukraine next year, who would be very interested in going.
I quote verbatim “They tell me yes, that he would be interested. Now, concretely, we still have nothing. Our president Volodimir Zelensky wants to hold a summit with several leaders of the Latin American region and it was planned to do so in New York or somewhere else. And possibly it will be done next year in Ukraine, that is where we are going to invite several leaders, not just President Boric. Of course he is always welcome to Ukraine, at any time, for the bilateral visit, but we also want to have broader coverage.”
As is already known, since the conflict between Ukraine and Russia broke out in February 2022, President Boric has not managed to maintain a neutral stance, and from the beginning he has tilted his balance towards Ukraine, maintaining a good relationship with Zelensky since his first telephone contacts. Almost romantic, but wars have nothing romantic about them, they are cruel, exhausting, and unfair conflicts for civilians, who become victims, regardless of which side they are on.
Ambiguity, interests or good intentions?
And then the questions arise spontaneously, what is behind this announcement? What is Chile looking for? What does Ukraine want? We have been learning through the press about the support that our authorities have provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, which until August 2023 would have taken the form of 3 packages of financial humanitarian aid (in March 2022 for an amount of US$100,000 through the International Federation of the Red Cross; in June 2022 for US$150,000 through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and in August 2023 for US$200,000 through the Chile Fund Against Hunger and Poverty) .
We are not bothered by humanitarian aid, on the contrary, we are convinced that civilians should not pay the cost of military conflicts; But, about 400 Ukrainians reside in Chile, mainly women married to Chileans. We are not close, on the contrary, almost 14,000 kilometers separate us, we do not share a language or religion, nor do we have deep cultural ties; and yet, aid – for the moment not of a military nature – has been present, not only financially, but also in international forums and summits.
There is no objective view, our authorities have made a unilateral decision in which we were not considered, this is how our foreign policy seems to work. Why so close to one of the countries in conflict, because one became the good guy and the other was roundly condemned. It seems that we have forgotten our own history, and the recent signings with the United States Southern Command – in which Salvador Allende’s granddaughter, Defense Minister Maya Fernández, participated – give us some light that we continue to be allies of the same power that supported the coup d’état of September 11, 1973. A coup d’état that never stops hurting this humble people with broken dreams of democracy and equality.
We do not share President Boric’s position, we do not like the path he has taken, we were already, for many years, the backyard of the United States, and we do not want to be that again, neither of the United States nor of NATO. Where was your anti-fascist, left-wing, pro-Mapuche, Octobrist position, like the one you raised when you were president of the FECH or Deputy of the Republic, what happened President? Today we see him timid, making alliances and governing with sectors that seem to us to have him questioned and kidnapped with a narrow arc of maneuver.
51 years after the coup d’état, he eludes the complicity of the United States, which caused the Chilean economy to “burst”, which left a trail of blood in the fields, in the big cities, in our pampas and nitrate north, in our sea mute witness of the corpses that the military threw from their helicopters into our Pacific Ocean. Where is the Gabriel Boric who was going to free the prisoners of the revolt, and who would persecute the guilty, stating that “we are going to persecute those who are responsible nationally and internationally, with all avenues of the law, so Mr. Piñera , you have been warned”, words that he softened during the former President’s funeral, stating that “during his government, the complaints and recriminations sometimes went beyond what was fair and reasonable.”
And so today we see him shaking hands with Zelensky and winking at NATO, making us involuntary accomplices of a position that does not represent us for thousands of Chileans. We feel much closer to the pain of the Palestinian people who have been annihilated by Israel for a year.
Unwanted visits
Regarding promoters of war and organized sectors – minorities – that do not represent the feelings of Chileans, we also want to remember the brief trip, on October 17, of Boris Johnson to Chile, to participate in the XII Picton Seminar – The Mercury. We are talking about the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who was accused of boycotting – as soon as the conflict began – the possibility of signing a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, defending the interests of the West and imperialism like a champion. In his conference, behind closed doors, he referred to Russia, Ukraine, the United States and China.
I imagine that on this, as on other occasions in which the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been analyzed, only one sector participated, maintaining the unilateral policy that does not promote dialogue and participation. I don’t know, but I don’t think representatives from the Russian Embassy in Chile were invited to this event. Yes, surprise, we also have the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Chile – relations that were interrupted after the coup d’état and were restored on March 11 1990 – but in a country that seems determined to follow the mandates of the Western powers, it is natural that Johnson give a conference who suggested to Zelensky to continue with the war and boycotted a peace agreement, offering him economic, technological and military aid against the great enemy, making it responsible for the more than thousands of dead and wounded. Yes, more than a thousand deaths weigh on the conscience of that former Prime Minister who on his trip had the time to visit Sebastián Piñera’s family and tour Rapa Nui by bicycle.
Regarding travel, we also learned from Chancellor van Klaveren that in his 2025 agenda, President Boric plans to visit India, with the aim of strengthening economic and diplomatic relations between both countries. The country’s priority seems to be commercial development through public-private alliances, and in that context we can also explain the Advanced Framework Agreement with the EU, the analysis of which would be for another article.
We do not understand the choice of partner. India is part of the BRICS (it is one of the founding countries) and is a historical partner of the USSR and then the Russian Federation, in addition to being one of the main promoters of a peaceful solution to the conflict. It is difficult for us to understand the logic of Chile’s foreign policy, on the one hand, it declares itself an ally of Ukraine and on the other, it seeks to do business with India. An ambiguity that we create again will not give the expected results. A true bilateral partnership needs, in addition to beneficial trade agreements for partners, a common basis of principles and visions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues and fully enters a new stage, which increases the difficulties for an increasingly lonely Ukraine. The United States faces tough presidential elections and its NATO partners are taking an unhappy account of the cost of the war and seeking to promote a negotiated solution to the conflict. Almost three years later, there are enormous human casualties – both civilian and military – destroyed territories and infrastructure. Faced with the intransigence of Zelensky, who with his “victory plan” seeks new resources and support, while we, the humble, civil society, remain with the hope of peace, we remain with the principles of neutrality, with the dialogue between the parties and with the efficiency that international diplomacy should have and that is why we share with you the words – which seem sincere to us – of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Chile, Sergei N. Koshkin, in June 2023: “Answering the question that sensible people always ask me, in favor of ending hostilities. It is about the possibility of searching for a negotiated political solution. The same call for dialogue and negotiations was made by the Chilean Foreign Ministry in its recent statement. The answer is that the Russian Party has been and remains willing to negotiate. And in March last year in Istanbul we were close to an agreement, but kyiv was not allowed to do that. To negotiate, you must have an interlocutor who is based on true national interests and, in addition, has the will and capacity to make decisions. And this is not the case with the kyiv leaders. Those who make decisions are outside and are not interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict, but in prolonging it as much as possible by fighting until “the last Ukrainian.”
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