Chilean President Michelle Bachelet may turn out to be a better president than her predecessor Sebastian Piñera, but many pro-democracy activists in Latin America may well come to miss his recent views on Venezuela, Cuba and other authoritarian regimes.
Bachelet, a Socialist former president who returned Tuesday to the presidential palace for a second term, suggested during her campaign that her top foreign policy priority will be to improve ties with Brazil, Argentina and other Atlantic rim South American nations. Piñera, in turn, had stressed Chile’s ties with the more pro-free market Pacific Alliance, made up of Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile.
In her first press conference after her inauguration, Bachelet announced that her first foreign trips will