From German names to Milei-style metal: three Chilean campaign quirks
Chile’s presidential election was full of musical and other surprises, from a 72-year-old candidate’s ill-advised foray into rap to a Javier Milei-style metal track created with AI.
Here are three whims of Sunday’s race to succeed outgoing left-wing president Gabriel Boric.
– ‘Danke schoen’ –
Three of the four main presidential candidates – far-right candidate José Antonio Kast, his far-right rival Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei, a traditional conservative – are of German origin.
Matthei introduced himself in German on Monday during the candidates’ final televised debate.
“Danke schoen (Thank you),” she said, blushing after the burly Kaiser, 49, gave her a rose for her 72nd birthday.
According to various estimates, around half a million of Chile’s 20 million inhabitants are of German ancestry.
Most German immigrants arrived in the 19th century, attracted by a Chilean project to populate the country’s remote, forested south.
Others arrived after World War II, including Paul Schaefer, the famous founder of a brutal German-themed sect, Colonia Dignidad.
Matthei’s family arrived in Chile in the 19th century, but Kast’s father, a member of Hitler’s Nazi army, emigrated to Chile after the war.
Kaiser’s paternal grandfather, in contrast, fled Hitler’s Germany because of his left-wing political leanings, according to Kaiser’s brother Axel.
A style nickname of the anti-migrant Johannes, however, attracted attention.
He wears cufflinks in the shape of the German Iron Cross, the symbol of the German army.
– The AI looks like Milei –
Kaiser presented himself as a libertarian like neighboring Argentine President Javier Milei.
To underline his ideological proximity to the Argentine rocker, his campaign released a heavy metal song called “Defend the Truth”.
“Stand up for the truth with strength and courage, stand up for the truth against leftists and traitors,” an unseen frontman sings over the wail of a guitar.
But if the words were recorded by real campaign activists, the instruments were generated by AI, his team confirmed to AFP.
Kaiser isn’t the only candidate looking to AI for inspiration.
Left-wing candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami, barely registered in the polls, used AI to create his not-so-subtle campaign ad.
It features Kast as the late military dictator Augusto Pinochet, Matthei in the cockpit of an air force plane that bombs the Moneda presidential palace (inspired by the real events of Pinochet’s 1973 coup), and Kaiser as a tank commander.
– Evelyn from the neighborhood –
The candidate who arguably attracted the most ridicule during the election campaign was former minister Matthei, who was persuaded to play a scowling rapper in a television campaign jingle attacking his rivals.
“I’m not Kast, I’m not Jara, I’m Evelyn, I’m looking to the future,” sings a woman as Matthei, 72, looks at the camera, arms crossed, flanked by dancers.
Social media criticized the song’s questionable rhymes and Matthei’s impassive gaze.
Kast called it a “terrible mistake” on his rival’s part.
“I regret that she fell so low.”
axle/cb/des
