The optimism surrounding Chile's leftist President Gabriel Boric after he took power in March has dimmed as inflation, social unrest and political missteps hurt his popularity and cause doubts about a push to steer the economy away from market-friendly policies.
The former student protest leader handily won a presidential election in December, rattling business, particularly the mining sector, with his proposals to change tax laws to fund social spending and tighten environmental regulation. Boric's support went to 34%, the lowest level of his presidency, closely mirroring the lack of support for the country's planned new constitution, according to an opinion poll on Monday.
It's been three months of a lot of intensity, big lessons, self-criticism and learning to work as a team, said Camila Vallejo, a communist in Boric's Cabinet who serves as the official spokesperson for his administration.
She said that the interior minister's visit to the restive Araucania region had been interrupted by gunfire.
Boric fares are a key for Chile and the ability of governments in the region to win over voters angry with high gas and food prices, cooling economic growth and the residual impact of the coronaviruses epidemic.
Chile's inflation is currently at an 11.5% annual rate, much above the central bank's target range of 2% to 4%. In March, monthly inflation rose to almost a 30 year high.
Boric is a break from Andean country's traditionally strait-laced leaders and remains a beacon for those who are fed up with inequality in one of the region's wealthiest nations after violent protests in 2019.
During the 2021 election campaign, he pledged to bury the country's market-driven economic model, though he tempered his aims when he installed a market-friendly finance minister.
But while Boric's environmental agenda and focus on inclusivity - women make up a majority of his cabinet - he earned plaudits, analysts said most voters were more focused on everyday matters.
Cristobal Bellolio, a political analyst and professor at the University of Adolfo Ibanez in Santiago, said people want to make it to the end of the month, be able to buy a car, and be certain their kids will prosper.
Boric has been tested because of the unrest between indigenous groups and authorities in southern Chile, where trucks have been burned and a train derailed. In late March, thousands of students showed up in Santiago to demand higher food stipends after the new president was sworn in, about two weeks after the new president was sworn in. One student was shot during the protest.
Bellolio said that once you're in power, you realize that the carrot isn't enough. After the party was over and things went back to normal, it was logical that the themes of public safety were going to be a headache for the government. Giorgio Jackson, a minister and Boric confidant, told Reuters earlier in June that raising the minimum wage had been one of the government's biggest victories so far, and the next big push was tax reform, including for the mining sector.
Chile is going to have a referendum on a new constitution in September to replace the existing market-centric one that dates back decades to the neoliberal economic policies under military dictator Augusto Pinochet.
While that process precedes Boric, it underpins many of the ideas he is trying to push on social rights and the environment.
Vallejo said the government was focused on holding a fair and transparent plebiscite and would push its agenda regardless of the outcome, though she added that the current constitution limits the administration's proposed reforms.
Vallejo said we'll push with the same conviction that we had when we took power. Chile worked hard on this and we'd like to show the world that we can make deep changes.