Is the new Michelle Bachelet government ‘socialist’?
www.socialistworld.net, 26/03/2006 website of the committee for a workers’ international, CWI ‘Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are’ Celso Calfullan, Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI Chile) We have had less than one month of the new government of Michelle Bachelet and already we can get a clear idea of what the next four years of this Concertación (coalition) government will be like. It will be a repeat of the policies of the governments of the last twenty years – neo-liberalism. Workers often say, “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are”. This very clearly applies to the new coalition government of ‘socialist’ President, Michellet Bachelet. Her team will be dominated by three leading figures. Firstly, the Minister of Works, Andrés Velasco. He is an open defender of the neo-liberal policies implemented during the last 16 years. In fact, he is one of the main ideological proponents of these ideas. Secondly, is the pernicious person of Andrés Z
