The president-elect of Chile, the leftist Gabriel Boric, declined this Monday to accompany his predecessor, the conservative Sebastián Piñera, on his last international tour of Colombia, where he plans to attend the Prosur and Pacific Alliance summits on the 26th and January 27th.
"I have spoken with President Piñera to inform him that I have decided not to attend (…) Our priorities are in the formation of teams here in Chile"Boric announced in statements to journalists.
The former student leader, who will take office in March, asked not to interpret his decision as a "snub" and assured that international relations will be "tremendously relevant" in your Government.
Boric affirmed that Prosur, a forum created in 2019 with a conservative tendency, "It is an own agenda developed by the Government of President Piñera", but indicated that it will give "priority" to the Pacific Alliance, a commercial bloc made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Founded in 2019 in Santiago de Chile, the Forum for the Progress of South America (Prosur) was promoted by conservative leaders such as the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, the Colombian Iván Duque and Piñera himself.
It is a kind of counterweight to Unasur, promoted in 2008 by former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in a period when several left-wing leaders in Latin America came to power.
"We are going to seek the greatest possible integration in Latin America, with all those who are available for it, going beyond ideological affinities"added the youngest and most voted president-elect in Chilean history.
Piñera extended the invitation a week ago, when he held a meeting in La Moneda, headquarters of the Executive, with Boric, a day after his overwhelming victory by more than 11 points against the far-right José Antonio Kast.
The fact that the outgoing president invites his successor to his last international tour is a tradition that was born in 2006, when Ricardo Lagos invited Michelle Bachelet to the first inauguration of former Bolivian leader Evo Morales.
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