NEW YORK: The woes of Chile's leftist President Michelle Bachelet might look like a breeze next to those of Dilma Rousseff, her impeached coreligionist in Brazil. The copper-producing nation's corruption scandal, economic slowdown and rising pension crisis are small in comparison, but still bad news for its status as South America's bulwark of stability.
Brazil dwarfs Chile in most ways, good and bad. Its population and GDP are both roughly 10 times larger.
Its economy is expected to shrink more than 3 percent this year compared to Chile's sluggish growth of around 1.5 percent, and its multibillion-dollar kickback scandal, focused on state oil firm Petrobras, makes the Andean nation's own political-funding scandal, much of it centered around fertilizer company SQM, seem almost provincial.
Brazil might also wish it had Chile's pension problems. Interim President Michel Temer, who should take over from Rousseff for good once her Senate impeachment trial concludes at the end of the month, needs to rein in unsustainably generous retirement benefits that will bankrupt the nation if not addressed.
Hundreds of thousands of Chileans, by contrast, protested on Sunday against a private system - set up in the 1980s under military strongman Augusto Pinochet, and held up by admirers as a capitalist jewel on a largely leftist continent - because it is not generous enough for retirees.
Approval ratings for Bachelet, who took power for a second time in 2014, have fallen to just 15 percent, the lowest recorded since Chile returned to democracy in 1990.
That's still almost twice the 7.7 percent Rousseff registered in July last year as the Brazilian economy cratered. Bachelet isn't facing impeachment, but in both countries disenchantment with politicians is now widespread.
Whereas in Brazil corruption has long been tolerated but is sparking greater public ire and a stiffer response from prosecutors, Chile has long enjoyed a reputation for transparency that is now being tarnished.
Alleged illegal funneling of funds to parties across the political spectrum by the private sector has left more Chileans dubious about all potential leaders ahead of 2017 presidential elections.
The scandal, together with student anger at stalled education reform, the tepid economy and pension protests, suggests a potential unraveling of Chile's successful consensus of recent decades, built on fiscal prudence, moderation and respect for the law. It's not a model South America can afford to lose.
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