1695685357 Trudeau and Bukele Chileans Favorite International Leaders

Trudeau and Bukele: Chileans’ Favorite International Leaders

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Justin Trudeau and Nayib BukeleJustin Trudeau and Nayib Bukele.Portal/AFP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele are the highest-rated international leaders by Chileans, according to Cadem Poll’s weekly poll from the third week of September. The Canadian president received 78% approval, followed by the highest Salvadoran authority with 77%.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric has a close relationship with Trudeau. In June 2022, she made an official visit to Canada, during which she held meetings with the country’s Prime Minister, with whom she exchanged ideas on gender equality and the climate crisis. In this case, the Canadian leader said of the Chilean president: “It is very exciting to see a progressive voice emerge on the continent with an exciting agenda.”

Both authorities also held a bilateral meeting during the recently held 78th UN General Assembly. After her, Boric noted on his social networks: “In times of so many crises, it is good to know that we have an ally on the other side of the continent,” he said on his official X account (ex Twitter). The Canadian Prime Minister also published a post after his meeting: “Together with President Gabriel Boric, we have achieved a lot today. “I thanked him for the support Chile gave Canada in response to the wildfires, and we talked about climate change, economic growth, support for Ukraine and other global issues.” And he concluded by writing, “I’m glad to see you again, my friend.”

If the relationship between Boric and Trudeau can be described as friendship, with Bukele it is exactly the opposite. During his trip to Europe in July this year, the left-wing Chilean president referred to El Salvador’s anti-crime policy in an interview with the BBC, describing it as “bread for today and hunger for tomorrow,” because only in this way it focuses on “the most extreme measures “and not on “substantial questions,” said Boric on the British broadcaster. Bukele quickly responded through his social networks: “Well, this government can do two things at the same time. A good security strategy includes preventing and directly combating crime. How difficult it must be to run a country with so little common sense. Thank God the Chileans are more than their president.”

Analyst Mauricio Morales, an academic at the University of Talca (Chile), recalled that, according to all public opinion studies, crime is people’s biggest concern. In this context, “the Bukele phenomenon has had three impacts”: “First, with greater demand for law and order. Secondly, with a preference for radical right candidates. Third, with a particularly critical assessment of left-wing governments for their reluctance to take a tough stance on crime.” Seen in this light, Morales continues: “The experience of El Salvador has contributed to positions that we believed were closer to authoritarianism than to that To give more credibility to democracy,” he told EL PAÍS.

In Chile, where Boric suffered a major electoral setback against the far-right Republican Party in the last elections, part of society has a “longing for sanctions” against crime, said Axel Callís, an academic at University Central and director of the polling firm Tú Influences. In addition, in view of the increasing crime, there is a lack of credibility in the justice system.

For his part, the former presidential candidate of the Chilean conservative right, José Antonio Kast, has shown gestures towards the president of El Salvador as a model for the security agenda. Ahead of the 2022 UN General Assembly, he published: “I hope that Nayib Bukele goes to the UN Assembly and meets with Gabriel Boric to give him some tips on how to deal with the security crisis in Chile.” While in El Salvador the Homicides are declining, they are uncontrolled in Chile,” said the head of the Republican Party.

On the scale of most approved votes, Bukele was followed by the presidents of France, Emmanuel Macron, and Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, with 65% approval each; the President of the United States, Joe Biden (57%), of China, Xi Jinping (45%), of Brazil, Lula da Silva, and of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, both with 40% of preferences. Meanwhile, the worst-rated authorities are Venezuela’s leaders Nicolás Maduro (5%), Argentina’s Alberto Fernández (14%) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin (17%).

When asked about a political/economic model from another country, Chileans leaned toward Australia and New Zealand, both countries with 28% of preferences, followed by Canada with 22%.

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