Michelle Bachelet: “I want Chile to be a better country for the people”

From a balcony of the Palacio de La Moneda, the new president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, gave her first speech and announced several reforms and the changing of the Constitution “within democracy.”

During her speech, one of the issues that drew much applause in the Plaza of the Constitution was the free education topic, one of themost pronounced  requirements in the mandate of Sebastian Piñera. “I am the daughter of public education. I know what it is to fight for a free country,” said the president.

“We believe there may be a different Chile and much more fairer. I want that on the day I leave this house again, you all feel that your life has changed for the best, that Chile is not just a list of indicators or statistics, but a better country to live in, a better society for all its people,” she said.

This time Bachelet must deal with a country experiencing an economic slowdown and citizens with more awareness of their social rights, citizens that will require her to fulfill her ambitious program of government, among which include free education, improvement of the system pension and public health services, and raising taxes on businesses in order to have resources.