How Chile's success divides it from its neighbors

[dArKeR]

By Larry Rohter
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , SANTIAGO, CHILE
Sunday, May 02, 2004,Page 9

Achieving a free-trade pact with the US was supposed to be the magic moment that certified Chile's entry into the elite club of stable, democratic and prosperous nations. Instead, the new accord, signed in January, has reignited a sometimes anguished debate here about what it means to be Latin American and whether Chile has lost those essential characteristics.

Since the beginning of the decade, all three of Chile's neighbors have suffered political and economic convulsions that have forced changes of government. In sharp contrast to Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, not to mention the rest of South America, Chile these days looks "dull but virtuous," to borrow the title of a recent report by one Wall Street brokerage house.

This is a country where most people actually pay their taxes, laws are rigidly enforced and the police only rarely seek bribes. That is unusual for Latin America and probably should be cause for celebration. Yet, it has the rest of the region looking at Chile as if there is something wrong with it because it is not what the Brazilians call "bagunca" or what the Argentines call "quilombo" -- passionately messy, turbulent and chaotic.

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