In Chile, a special assembly spent more than two years writing a new constitution to replace the current one that dates back to the country’s military dictatorship. The proposed constitution, which some called the world’s most progressive, would have put a focus on social issues and gender parity, enshrine rights for the indigenous population, and address climate change. In September, Chilean voters rejected the proposal, and on January 11, 2023, Chile’s Congress passed a bill that starts a new process to replace the country’s Pinochet-era constitution.  

In this episode, His Excellency Juan Gabriel Valdés, Ambassador of Chile to the United States joins Carah Ong Whaley and Caterina Perez Siino for a conversation about the state of democracy in Chile, Latin America and around the world, and discusses the importance of institutional accountability to protect from authoritarianism. “To defend democracy is very important,” says Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés. He also discusses solutions to a wide-range of challenges facing Chile and the world – from migration to policing reform to health system access. 

His Excellency Juan Gabriel Valdés was sworn in most recently as Ambassador to the U.S. in spring 2022 and previously served as Ambassador to the U.S. from 2014 to 2018. In addition to Ambassador to the U.S., he has served as Chile’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the U.N. and Minister of Foreign Affairs, among other positions. He was a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York, Sorbonne in Paris, and served as Director of Institutional and Strategic Affairs at the University of Chile in Santiago.