Chile's first woman President - Michelle Bachelet

Chileans elect their first woman president (Reuters): "Chile elected socialist Michelle Bachelet to be its first woman president on Sunday, making her only the second woman elected to head a South American state as Latin America cements a shift to the left. A former defense minister, Bachelet is only the second woman elected to head a South American nation after Janet Jagan of Guyana was chosen to succeed her husband as president in 1997 after he died.
A Bachelet victory consolidates a shift to the left in Latin America, where leftists now run Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela, some with politics more extreme than others. Socialist Evo Morales will soon take office in gas-rich Bolivia, and a leftist is favored to win Mexico's July presidential election."

Bachelet's win is remarkable not only because she is the first Chilean female President but also because, in a largely Catholic and conservative country, she is a single mother (separated), a socialist and an agnostic. See Single Mother Michelle Bachelet Elected as Chile's First Female President, reported by my colleague, Dianne Hadaway, About Single Parents Guide.

More in the news:

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