Embarrassment on the Slide at the Playground
Some Parts of the Slide Later Damaged
The Chilean president, struggling with low approval ratings, suffered embarrassment after getting stuck while sliding down a slide at a playground in his hometown.
On the 15th (local time), according to local media including BiobioChile and Infobae, Gabriel Boric (37), the president of Chile, visited his hometown Punta Arenas on the 7th to participate in the constitutional convention election for drafting a new constitution, and stopped by a neighborhood playground.
While sliding down a cylindrical slide at the playground, he got stuck in the middle and struggled for several seconds without being able to get out. At that time, First Lady Irina Karamanos (33) burst out laughing upon seeing this.
Someone recorded this moment and posted it on social media (SNS), and the video of President Boric stuck in the slide with only his lower body visible circulated for a while as a 'meme' (a photo or video trending on the internet).
However, some residents pointed out that the lower joint of the slide Boric was on was damaged, causing part of it to break. The Chilean opposition criticized, "The president failed to maintain his dignity and even damaged children's playground equipment." Johannes Kaiser, a member of the National Congress, demanded the local government to "charge the president for the repair costs and formally report the results."
In response, Claudio Radonich, mayor of Punta Arenas, stated, "It is not broken; only parts need to be replaced," and added, "We repaired it by replacing six screws at a cost of 3,000 Chilean pesos (5,130 KRW)."
The Spanish-language media 'Letras Libres' evaluated this scene as symbolically revealing Boric's current situation, facing a political crisis due to low approval ratings in the 30% range and defeat in the constitutional convention election.
The Boric administration and the left-wing ruling party lost many seats to the right-wing (winning 34 out of 51 seats) in this constitutional convention election. Following the rejection of the progressive constitution they ambitiously promoted and enacted last year in a national referendum, this election result dealt a significant blow to President Boric's leadership.
Meanwhile, President Boric, who took office in March last year, was elected at a young age in his 30s as a former student leader, raising expectations. He is the youngest president in Chile's history and a distinctly left-wing president who appeared after a long time in Chile, where centrist-left and centrist-right governments had alternated in power, attracting great attention. However, public sentiment worsened due to increased drug-related crime and soaring inflation, and his approval ratings also followed a downward trend.
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