Chile's Bachelet courts Communists for big reforms

Chile's Bachelet courts Communists for big reforms
By MARIANELA JARROUD Associated Press
Posted: 05/05/2013 10:26:31 AM PDT
Updated: 05/05/2013 10:26:31 AM PDT

SANTIAGO, Chile—Communist and other leftists were considered enemies of the state during Chile's military dictatorship, a 17-year period that saw thousands of people killed and disappeared for their politics.

But as this year's elections nears, former President Michelle Bachelet, who was detained and tortured under the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, is reaching out to the now-legal Communist Party and other left-leaning groups in her bid to return to the nation's top post.

It's a politically pragmatic move in a country plagued by mounting social demands and frequent protests. But it's also part of Bachelet's goal, assuming she regains the presidency, to oversee an overhaul of the education and tax systems, which would be the country's most wide-ranging reform in four decades.

Chile, the world's top producer of copper, is respected for its fast-growing economy, strong institutions and low unemployment. But it also has the worst inequality rate among the 34 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_23177009/chiles-bachelet-courts-communists-big-reforms