charlie > The problem is that the mainstream center-left and the mainstream center-right failed here.
By GDP numbers, Chile outperformed other South American companies on the strength of the market economy created by Pinochet’s economic team – consistenly with different center parties. They may have people who need a better social net, but their counterparts have much more people who are caught in that net of poverty. Note that most of countries that fell under socialist dictatorships – stay there for decades with no end, not like post-Pinochet.