Could Chile show the United States how to rebuild its democracy? | Tony Karon

The US once helped destroy Chilean democracy. Now, a constitutional reform movement in Chile could teach the US how to fix its own

Chile always gave the lie to the cold war claim that the United States stood for democracy. When its voters in 1970 showed the temerity (irresponsibility", Henry Kissinger called it) to elect socialist Salvador Allende as president, Washington helped orchestrate the coup that toppled him, and backed the resulting dictatorship.

It seems those irresponsible" Chilean voters are at it again - on Sunday, they elected leftist Gabriel Boric as president by a 12-point margin, on the back of a campaign for a new constitution. But if Chilean democracy seems on the road to recovery from its Washington-backed disfiguration, prospects for democracy in the United States look rather bleak.

Tony Karon is a South African-born journalist and former anti-apartheid activist. He is currently the Managing Editor of AJ+