September 4, 2018

She was Latin America’s first woman defense minister before she was named the first head of UN Women.

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet was 23-year-old when she was tortured & fled her country’s dictatorship into exile. Now, more than 4 decades later, she'll face her past fighting such abuses worldwide as the new United Nations Human Rights chief.

Bachelet, 66, is often seen smiling, chatting easily or tossing unplanned comments or jokes into her speeches. But behind her good humour lie haunting memories of the brutal dictatorship that tore her family apart.

Bachelet herself was arrested along with her mother in 1975. She was a young member of the Socialist Party, and her time in a secret prison was an ordeal that she prefers not to talk about, saying only in her autobiography that she suffered “physical hardships.”

She studied medicine, specializing in pediatrics & began working at an organization that helped children with mental health problems whose parents had been victims of the 1973-90 dictatorship.

Bachelet rose through the ranks of the Socialist Party & became a key player in the center-left coalition that dominated Chile’s govt for almost 20 years after Pinochet lost power.

Putting her traumatic past behind, she helped the discredited military regain its status in the wake of Pinochet’s dictatorship.

One of her emblematic moments came when she was named Latin America’s 1st woman defense minister during the govt of President Ricardo Lagos. She continued to break boundaries when she became Chile’s 1st women president in 2006.

After her term, she was named the 1st head of UN Women, the world body’s new women’s agency. She left the post to return to Chile & won the presidency again, serving from 2014-18.

Bachelet is known as a caring single mother, a hard worker & an astute negotiator.

In her new post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, she replaces Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, a diplomat & member of Jordan’s royal family.

She called on the Myanmar govt. to release the journalists & said that their trial breached international standards.

Bachelet will face many other challenges, Chief among them, how to get dictators, autocrats, tyrants & demagogues to respect human rights.

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