Original article: Chile y su retiro de los No Alineados: un golpe de timón que revela la sumisión de la política exterior de Kast
The winds blowing from La Moneda signal a decision that transcends mere administrative matters; it holds symbolic weight. It’s a decisive break from history, a severance from the Global South.
Chile’s withdrawal from the Non-Aligned Movement marks a significant turn, revealing the submission in Kast’s foreign policy, exposed amid the chaos of geopolitical storms where the world collapses into its historic fractures and the specter of a renewed Cold War looms. José Antonio Kast has let go of the only lifeline keeping us afloat in the vast sea of autonomy: the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Chilean Foreign Ministry, using disingenuous bureaucratic language to mask betrayal, claims the NAM has become «out of context.» However, this explanation doesn’t withstand scrutiny, as it serves merely as a smokescreen to conceal the path drawn toward the North. This is not credible because fundamental decisions are never made in a vacuum; they arise at the crossroads of interests. Here, both the Ministry of Finance and the Foreign Ministry’s compass point to the same magnetic pole: NATO, Zionism, slashing state resources to the bone, and a neocolonialism dressed in a suit, bowing to its friends in the Anglophone empire.
It’s not that Chile has lost its way; the compass has been sold. As the world polarizes and the renewed Monroe Doctrine looms—a long shadow returning to our continent—Chile chooses not to be a bridge but a cargo dock catering to foreign interests.
Active neutrality is not an innocent stance; it embodies the wisdom of nations that have seen their deserts’ sand and seas’ water turn into spoils of war too many times. Remaining within the treaty was a safeguard, a beacon for our multipolar ambitions.
We must be clear: abandoning the NAM shuts the door on 120 nations that symbolize hope and calls from the Global South. It silences Chile’s voice in the chorus advocating balance, reducing us to a subservient echo of hegemonic powers.
As pointed out by Daniel Grimaldi, executive director of Fundación Chile21, «Essentially, Chile is breaking its diplomatic tradition in democracy and aligning with the U.S. at a time when its cultural and economic hegemony is threatened, especially since the Trump administration just raised tariffs on Chile by 12.5%. Aligning without gaining anything in return is more accurately described as submission.»
What citizens, social organizations, and political parties should do now is raise their voices in unison. Reject this measure with the strength of those who know sovereignty is not negotiable, independence is not for sale. History has taught us, with its relentless weaving of days and nights, that the last time Chile withdrew from this movement was during the dark days of Pinochet’s dictatorship.
That sinister decision echoes today in the vaults of power, threading the same leaden line that stitched silence and isolation in those shadowy years. Is that the fate we wish to repeat? Is that the legacy we intend to leave for future generations?
Chile is a country with mountains that touch the sky and an ocean that embraces the infinite. It was not made to kneel before anyone but to stand as a forum for dialogue between worlds. Therefore, from the roots of our peoples, through the arts, from our streets and the collective intelligence of our organizations, we must declare enough. Let’s reject this withdrawal not only with cold arguments but with the fiery poetry of our sovereignty. Non-aligned, yes; free, always. Because the homeland is not just a piece of land that bows to northern winds; it is a soul that refuses to be sold.
By Bruno Sommer
*Founder of El Ciudadano
