Chile summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Santiago on Monday, August 29 after the “fake newsby Jair Bolsonaro against his counterpart Gabriel Boric, insinuating that he had “set fire to the subway“, announced Monday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Gabriel Boric, a former student leader elected president of Chile in November at the age of 35, took part in the anti-government protests that rocked Chile in 2019 to demand more social justice. The revolt, starting from the youth against the increase in the price of the metro ticket, had quickly taken a violent turn and several metro stations of Santiago had been set on fire.
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Sunday evening during the first presidential debate on October 2, the far-right Brazilian president insinuated that Gabriel Boric was involved in these fires. Jair Bolsonaro thus intended to attack his main rival, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, favorite in the polls: he “supported the president of Chile, the one who set fire to the metro, and look where Chile is goinghe said after listing Lula’s support for several recently elected left-wing governments in Latin America, such as Gustavo Petro in August in Colombia.
“We take these statements very seriously. It is obvious that this is totally false and we regret that bilateral relations are exploited and polarized in an electoral context by disinformation and fake newssaid Chilean Foreign Minister Antonio Urrejola. The minister specified that an official letter of protest would be presented to the summoned Brazilian ambassador.
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