Letter to the Editor: Chilean Student Association

I have several concerns regarding the Chilean Student Association of UC Davis, California.

It blows my mind that the students who belong to this association have chosen to participate in a lunch with a visiting, unelected Congressman from Chile who was appointed by the leadership of his party (UDI) to represent District #32 in the south. With this act, the message conveyed to the general public is that the association is bypassing the fundamentals of the Democratic process of “one person, one vote” and it condones the anti-democratic system that exists in Chile that allows people like him to be the representatives of people without ever having participated in an election.

Furthermore, his trip to Davis happens to be at the same time that he is supposed to be working in his District and attending to the concerns of his constituency, according to the house rules of the Chilean Congress.

Regarding my second concern, there are still many Chilean-Californians waiting to see if the association will take a public position regarding the student conflict in Chile. These students need all the support they can get from fellow students abroad, especially those at UC Davis. Is the association planning to take a stand, because the majority of these students who are studying at UC Davis are the recipient of a scholarship funded by the people of Chile. I myself pay property taxes in Chile, so I have a stake in this matter. So as a taxpayer, I believe that the association should and must take a public position regarding the student conflict in Chile, and not simply wait for the issue to be resolved.

Boris Cardenas
Chilean-American Davis resident