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Original article: Gabriel Boric en el epicentro de la derrota: Del Acuerdo por la Paz, al fracaso constituyente hasta el triunfo electoral del pinochetismo 

From Social Unrest to La Moneda: The Twisted Road that Led Pinochetism Back to Power in Chile

After a decade of political turmoil, marked by the social explosion of 2019 and a failed constitutional process, Chile has dramatically shifted to the right. José Antonio Kast’s election on December 14, 2025, where he secured over 58% of the votes against candidates from the Unity for Chile Coalition, is not an isolated incident but a turning point of a six-year journey.

This trajectory, which began with the promise to bury Pinochet’s Constitution, ironically culminated in the election of an open defender of the dictatorship, the son of a Nazi immigrant and an admirer of human rights criminal Miguel Krassnoff. Some analysts and political figures attribute this significant shift primarily to Gabriel Boric, whose legacy is said to have paved the way for pinochetism’s return to power following the so-called «Agreement for Peace«, facilitated by the intervention of the then-congressman. Among other negotiation failures, a process was agreed upon that included voluntary voting and mandatory exit voting.

The constitutional failure of 2022 dealt a severe blow. Following an overwhelming victory for the ‘Approve’ side in the entry plebiscite, with voluntary voting (78.28% in favor) on April 26, 2020, the subsequent exit plebiscite on September 4, 2022, ended in a stunning defeat for the ‘Approve’ camp, garnering only 38.14% against 61.86% for the ‘Reject’ option. This outcome has been described as «the worst political and electoral defeat that the so-called left and progressive world has faced since the restoration of democracy», deflating hopes for structural changes aimed at creating a fairer, more democratic, participatory, and equal society—principles that fueled the 2019 protests.

The united radical right, equipped with a powerful digital campaign machinery, capitalized on public discontent and abruptly halted the wave of transformations.

Argentinian writer, sociologist, and historian Lautaro Rivara described this as the initial act of a foretold tragedy: «The marshal of Chile’s defeat, from saving Piñera in the midst of unrest, to the constitutional frustration of 2022 and his dispensable politics, ending with the adverse result of Sunday… is none other than Gabriel Boric Font,” he predicted on November 20, 2025, in a post on X.

Boric’s Legacy: Accusations of a «Rescue» for the Right

Boric’s government (2022-2026) has become, in the eyes of critics, a catalog of concessions that politically disarmed his coalition and empowered the opposition. Voices from within his camp claim he betrayed the demands of the social uprising by ratifying the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—a deal that even Sebastián Piñera could not finalize—reaching agreements with the Pinochet family (Ponce Lerou) for lithium exploitation with SQM, and maintaining military presence in La Araucanía under a continuous State of Exception.

Lawyer Mauricio Daza put it harshly on social media: “Ultimately, Boric ended up rescuing Isapres funded by affiliates they robbed; reinforcing the AFP system without any substantial change; handing over lithium to Pinochet’s granddaughter without bidding until 2060; and passing the government to José Antonio Kast… #TheLegacy”.

Although his administration successfully passed reforms like pension system changes and the 40-hour work week law, these victories were overshadowed by a widespread sense of incapacity to confront crises such as public safety and organized crime, which the right sharply thrust onto the public agenda.

The calculated strategy of the far-right to use Boric as a “reality check” had been revealed in advance. In October 2021, businessman Nicolás Ibáñez, linked to the right-wing think tank Foundation for Progress, declared to the newspaper El Mercurio and later echoed by Biobío, his tactical support for the then-candidate: “My view is that we must do everything possible to ensure Boric wins”. His logic was coldly Machiavellian: “Let the Mapuche problem, and the violence in Plaza Italia be Boric’s… And we can organize the rejection of the Constitution.”

This confession exposed how sectors of economic power viewed Boric not as an adversary, but as an instrument to wear down the left and reorganize.

Four years later, from Mexico, analyst Alejandro Torres concluded on social media: “The legacy of @GabrielBoric: Capitalizing on the social explosion of 2019 and failing progressivism to hand over the government to a fascist in 2025. Reinstating pinochetism, not by force, but by popular vote. Without his historical role, this outcome would not have been possible.”

An Open Door for the Far Right and Deepening Crises

The inability to contain the rise of organized crime and to resolve the Mapuche conflict served as fuel for Kast’s campaign. International gangs like the Tren de Aragua and Mexican cartels, whose entry into the country was detected during Piñera’s government, expanded their operations during Boric’s administration, penetrating even the armed forces. Simultaneously, iconic initiatives like the Presidential Commission for Peace in La Araucanía ended in failure, with Mapuche communities opposing results that they claimed undermined their rights. This combination of insecurity and social crisis allowed Kast to install a hardline agenda that resonated with a disenchanted electorate. As Rivara predicted in November 2025: “Who would have imagined that mimicking the right in economic, social, foreign, and security policies would end up serving the state on a silver platter to the reaction?”

On March 11, 2026, José Antonio Kast will receive the presidential sash from Gabriel Boric, marking the end of a historical cycle. While the new Congress, with a right-wing majority in the Chamber, promises to dismantle key reforms, the Chilean progressive movement faces a political debacle without a clear indication of deep self-reflection.

Jeannette Jara’s defeat—a substantial candidate who confronted a multimillion-dollar electoral machine and digital terror campaigns—marks a definitive moment.

In the words of former communist deputy Hugo Gutiérrez, upon seeing the results of December 14: “We are witnessing Boric’s legacy.”

A legacy that, for many, is not about the reforms he passed, but rather that of having been, in Rivara’s scathing phrase, «the republican grave digger of Chilean progressivism» who frustrated the energy of the uprising and opened the doors of La Moneda to the most radical far right.

The Boric government is remembered for declaring itself ecological, but fell short of addressing deep-rooted issues, including the eradication of salmon farms in protected areas that have caused significant damage in pristine zones and negatively impacted local economies. It is recalled that President Boric, in May 2022 during a visit to Magallanes, stated that «industries like salmon farming must leave protected areas». Ultimately, this did not happen.

Additionally, the «failure» of the Commission for Peace and Understanding (CPE) in Chile, which delivered its final report in May 2025 proposing solutions to the so-called state-Mapuche people conflict, faced criticism for being perceived as an instrument that excluded key actors and represented a regression in aspects of indigenous rights, with its ineffectiveness to generate real peace being criticized, leading autonomous Mapuche sectors to regard it as a farce—this was ultimately capitalized and propelled by the radical right.

In this context, the famous phrase from historical DC leader Radomiro Tomic remains relevant: “When you bargain with the right, the right is the one that wins.”

La entrada Gabriel Boric at the Center of Defeat: From the Peace Agreement to Constitutional Failure and the Electoral Triumph of Pinochetism se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.