Michelle
Bachelet sworn in as Chile's first woman president
AP
Photo/U.S Embassy, Jorge Sanchez, HO
Chile's new President Michelle Bachelet meets with
U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a bilateral meeting
at Cerro Castillo Presidential residence in Vina del Mar, Chile,
Saturday, March 11, 2006, prior Chile's new President Michelle
Bachelet inauguration ceremony at Chile's congress in Valparaiso.
Bachelet was inaugurated as Chile's first female president.
AFP
SANTIAGO
Petroleumworld.com
03 13 06
Michelle Bachelet was sworn in Saturday as Chile's first woman
president, as socially conservative Chile moves boldly out of
the shadow of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
Bachelet, a doctor, single mother and former defense minister
was sworn in by Senate speaker Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, and takes
over from fellow socialist Ricardo Lagos.
Her government extends the rule of the center-left coalition that
has governed the South American country since the end of Pinochet's
military regime in 1990.
"It will be the government of the citizens," Bachelet,
speaking from a balcony of the Palacio de la Moneda (Presidential
Palace), told a crowd of thousands gathered in the square below.
"We do not want to repeat the same errors of the past,"
she said, referring to the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto
Pinochet, who led a 1973 military coup that partially destroyed
the palace with aerial bombing.
President Salvador Allende died in the colonial palace in the
assault.
"I am the depository of all the history that had dark and
bitter moments but has known how to recover," she said, reprising
Allende's final words when he announced, 33 years ago, "this
dark and bitter moment" for Chile -- Pinochet's coup.
Bachelet was sworn into office earlier Saturday at the parliamentary
building in the seaside city of Valparaiso.
Representatives from 120 countries, including about 30 heads of
state, attended the inauguration, including Spain's Crown Prince
Felipe, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and a bevy of Latin
American leaders.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also at the event, said:
"It is a wonderful day for Chile and for all the women of
the world."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that Bachelet's inauguration
is indicative of "the new period that is rising on the horizon
of Latin America," while Bolivian President Evo Morales described
her as "a woman that is the symbol of unity and hope."
Thousands who had gathered outside Congress ahead of the event
gave Lagos a rousing farewell as he entered the building as president
for the last time, an indication of his continued popularity.
They gave an equally rousing welcome to Bachelet as she arrived.
After the inauguration and greeting the foreign dignataries Bachelet
drove through the streets of Valparaiso standing in an open car,
waving at crowds gathered on the sidewalks.
On the way back to the capital Santiago, some 110 kilometers (68
miles) to the east, Bachelet stopped briefly at the town of Casablanca,
population 20,000, where she gave a short speech and saw a parade
of schoolchildren and firefighters.
"The goal is to put in place a government at your service,"
Bachelet said, wearing the white, blue and red presidential sash
over her white suit.
"What's at stake is the construction of a government for
all men and women. We have come a long way, but I want to be clear,
we have enormous challenges," she told the crowd.
The new president, who has portrayed herself as an ordinary woman
who understands the concerns of ordinary people, takes the helm
of a country enjoying six percent annual economic growth but the
second-biggest gap between the rich and poor in Latin America.
Her suffering during the Pinochet regime has won her sympathy
in a country still scarred by the 17-year dictatorship.
She and her parents were tortured during the military regime.
Her father, Alberto Bachelet, was a military adviser to socialist
president Allende, who was toppled by Pinochet. Tortured in prison,
Bachelet's father died six months later.
In 1975, she and her mother were held for about two weeks at Villa
Grimaldi, an infamous torture center. The two women later fled,
first to Australia and then to East Germany, where Bachelet completed
her medical studies.
Pinochet, 90, was not allowed to vote in the January 15 election
because he was awaiting trial over the deaths of dissidents during
his dictatorship.
Bachelet garnered 53.5 percent of the vote in January's election,
seven points ahead of conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera,
and won in all but one of the country's 13 regions.
AFP
03 11 06
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© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
