Carolina Pimentel
Reporter - Agencia Brasil

Brasilia – The inauguration of the new President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, is a signal of the consolidation of the political democracy in South America, in the evaluation of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who participated in the inauguration ceremony last Saturday (11), in Valparaiso.

"Political democracy has stronger roots today because institutions of all countries are working well. Social democracy will still depend on what we do to satisfy the great social needs in Latin America, in all of South America," said Lula this Monday (13), in his weekly radio program "Breakfast with the President."

Lula recalled Bachelet’s personal history, her persecution and the killing of her father during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. In the President’s opinion, Bachelet is not resentful; instead, she has demonstrated through her political life, as Minister of Defense, and Health, that she is tolerant in trying to build the future.

The President emphasized that his participation on Bachelet’s inauguration was also a way of thanking the Chilean people for having received Brazilian political refugees during the country’s dictatorship. "We also received many Chilean citizens in Brazil during Pinochet’s time."

Michelle Bachelet is the first woman elected President of Chile, and the 11th in the world. She is socialist, of the Concertación Party, and won the second round of the Presidential election on the 15th of January, against the businessman Sebastian Piñera, of the center-right coalition "Alianza por Chile."

Translation: Andréa Alves