At the age of 35, Gabriel Borek became the youngest president to reign in Chile, a country that suffered during the 17 years of the dictatorship of President Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
On Sunday, December 19, 2021, Chile witnessed the second round of the presidential elections, in which the radical left candidate won nearly 56% of the vote, 12 points ahead of his opponent from the right, Antonio Caste, who received 44%.
Birth, upbringing and study
February 11, 1986: Gabriel Borek was born in Punta Arenas, in the far south of the country.
He grew up with his two brothers in a left-wing family that always voted for the Socialist Party.
He studied at the British School in his hometown.
2004: Moved to study at the University of Chile's Law School in Santiago.
1999 and 2000: Participated in the re-establishment of the Union of High School Students in Punta Arenas.
She leads the University of Law Students' Association of Chile.
2008: He was an advisor to the Student Union in his college.
2009: Became president of the Law Students Center, the year he led a 44-day protest and represented the students as a university senator.
December 2011: Was a candidate for leadership of the University of Chile's Students' Union, where he was elected president with 30.52% of the vote.
He became one of the main speakers for the Chilean Students' Union.
2013: He participated in the parliamentary elections as an independent candidate, and was elected as a member of the House of Representatives for the Magallanes region and the Chilean Antarctic.
Not married yet.
ideology and thought
Borek did not live through the dictatorship imposed by General Augusto Pinochet, meaning that he belongs to a generation that gives importance to the political considerations that controlled democratic forces, whether left or liberal in Latin America.
Borek admires the trajectory of some left-wing leaders, such as the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Gabriel Borek is a prominent advocate of mining royalties in a country rich in copper mines and other underground wealth.
The president-elect promised to block a controversial proposed mining project, which he said would destroy communities and the national environment.
Borek plans to tax the wealth and the wealthy, as well as make education free in the country.
Chile, once the most stable economy in Latin America, has one of the world's largest income gaps, with 1% of the population owning 25% of the country's wealth, according to the United Nations.
Borek pledged to address this inequality by expanding social rights, reforming the pension and health care systems, reducing workweeks from 45 to 40 hours, and boosting investment in green areas.
“We know that there is still justice for the rich, justice for the poor, and we will no longer allow the poor to continue to pay the price for inequality in Chile,” he said.
He promised voters more "social rights" to Chileans, while at the same time ensuring a balanced tax policy.
He believes in the necessity of legalizing and facilitating abortion, which is expected to face severe criticism from the right and the extreme right, and from representatives of the Christian faith who defend the traditional family structure.
Among his famous quotes: "If Chile is the cradle of the liberal order in Latin America, this time it will be its graveyard."
2019: Borek participated in the popular demonstrations that erupted calling for a "fair" economic system, which grants social rights to all and in which education is a legitimate right for every person, not only for the rich, as is health insurance that should not be the preserve of the rich class.
His brother Simon Borek describes him as "an honest, transparent man who is open to discussion and exchange of views".
He loves books and reads excessively, and among his sayings in this context: "I feel comfortable when I read books. I come from the region of Patagonia where the world begins and all fairy tales and fairy tales meet in the Strait of Magellan, which has inspired many writers."
Gabriel Borek is considered a supporter of the Palestinian cause, and hostile to Israeli policy.
2018: He visited the West Bank with two other deputies, and then met with President Mahmoud Abbas.
October 7, 2021: Borek said in a television interview, "Yes, Israel is a genocidal state and a criminal state. We must defend human rights, no matter how powerful the states are."
The road to the presidential palace
Burek refused to run in the presidential elections, justifying this because he did not have enough experience to run the country, but he eventually accepted and won the internal elections of the radical left, representing the "expanded front" that was established in 2017 and includes the sects of the left.
Right-wing candidate Antonio Caste had won the first round of elections, with Borek in second place.
The equation was reversed in the second round, and the Chilean voter won the victory for the former student leader, who came from the arenas of protest and the direct struggle against the right-wing policies that the country witnessed in recent years.
March 11, 2022: Borek will be sworn in as president.
Borik's victory is a translation of popular demands to end the privatization of a number of public sectors, such as electricity, water and part of the health sector, where families who mostly live in an acceptable economic situation have become mired in loans.
Borek's victory is a strong return to the left in Latin America, where there are leftist regimes in a number of countries, such as Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama and Bolivia.