Michelle Bachelet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michelle Bachelet
Bachelet in 2019
7th United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
In office 1 September 2018 – 31 August 2022
Deputy	Kate Gilmore
Secretary-General	António Guterres
Preceded by	Zeid Raad Al Hussein
Succeeded by	Volker Türk
33rd and 35th President of Chile
In office 11 March 2014 – 11 March 2018
Preceded by	Sebastián Piñera
Succeeded by	Sebastián Piñera
In office 11 March 2006 – 11 March 2010
Preceded by	Ricardo Lagos
Succeeded by	Sebastián Piñera
President pro tempore of the Pacific Alliance
In office 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017
Preceded by	Ollanta Humala
Succeeded by	Juan Manuel Santos
Executive Director of UN Women
In office 14 September 2010 – 15 March 2013
Deputy	Lakshmi Puri
Secretary General	Ban Ki-moon
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Lakshmi Puri (acting)
President pro tempore of UNASUR
In office 23 May 2008 – 10 August 2009
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Rafael Correa
Minister for National Defense
In office 7 January 2002 – 1 October 2004
President	Ricardo Lagos
Preceded by	Mario Fernández Baeza
Succeeded by	Jaime Ravinet
Minister for Health
In office 11 March 2000 – 7 January 2002
President	Ricardo Lagos
Preceded by	Álex Figueroa
Succeeded by	Osvaldo Artaza
Personal details
Born	Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (1951-09-29) 29 September 1951 (age 73) Santiago, Chile
Political party	Socialist
Other political affiliations	Concertación (1988–2013) Nueva Mayoría (2013–2018)
Spouse	Jorge Dávalos Cartes ​ ​ (m. 1978; separation 1984)​
Children	3
Parents	Alberto Bachelet (father) Ángela Jeria (mother)
Education	University of Chile (MD)
Profession	Paediatrician / Public Health Physician
Signature

Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician. She made history by becoming the first woman to be President of Chile. She served two terms, from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018. She was the first Chilean President to be re-elected since 1932.

After her second term as president, she worked for the United Nations as the High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. Earlier in her career, she was also the first leader of UN Women, a UN group focused on gender equality.

Michelle Bachelet is a doctor who also studied military strategy. Before becoming president, she was the Minister of Health and the Minister of Defense under President Ricardo Lagos. She is a mother of three children and identifies as agnostic. Besides her native Spanish, she speaks English fluently and can also speak German, French, and Portuguese.

Family Background

Michelle Bachelet is the second child of Ángela Jeria Gómez, who was an archaeologist, and Alberto Bachelet Martínez, an Air Force Brigadier General.

Early Life and Career

Childhood and Education

Michelle Bachelet was born in Santiago, Chile. As a child, her family moved often because of her father's military work. She lived in different parts of Chile, like Quintero and Antofagasta. In 1962, her family moved to the United States for two years, where her father worked at the Chilean Embassy in Washington, D.C.. During this time, she attended school in Bethesda, Maryland, and learned to speak English very well.

When she returned to Chile in 1964, she finished high school in 1969 at a respected public school for girls, Liceo Javiera Carrera. She was a top student, class president, and involved in many activities like choir and theater. In 1970, she started medical school at the University of Chile. She chose medicine because she wanted to help people and improve health in her country.

Difficult Times and Exile

During the government of Salvador Allende, Michelle's father was in charge of food distribution. When General Augusto Pinochet took power in a military coup on 11 September 1973, her father was arrested. He sadly died in prison in March 1974.

In January 1975, Michelle and her mother were also arrested by secret police agents. They were taken to a secret detention center in Santiago. After some days, Michelle was moved to another detention center. With help, she was able to go into exile in Australia, where her older brother lived.

Commemoration of Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean minister, who was assassinated by Pinochet's secret police in Washington, D.C. in 1976

In May 1975, Michelle left Australia and moved to East Germany. She continued her medical studies there and met Jorge Leopoldo Dávalos Cartes, another Chilean exile, whom she married in 1977. Their first child, Jorge Alberto Sebastián, was born in East Germany in 1978.

Return to Chile and Medical Career

Michelle returned to Chile in 1979 after four years in exile. She had to restart her medical studies because her credits from East Germany were not accepted. She became a doctor in 1983. The military government did not allow her to work in public hospitals for political reasons.

Instead, she specialized in pediatrics (children's medicine) and public health. She also worked for a foundation called PIDEE, which helped children affected by the difficult political situation. She became the head of their Medical Department.

After Chile became a democracy again in 1990, Michelle worked for the Ministry of Health and as a consultant for international health organizations. She also developed an interest in how civilians and the military interact. In 1996, she began studying military strategy in Chile and later in the United States. She earned a Master's degree in military science.

Early Political Career

Becoming Involved in Politics

Michelle Bachelet joined the Socialist Youth group in 1970, during her first year at university. After returning from exile, she became very active in politics in the late 1980s, working to bring democracy back to Chile. She became an important member of the Socialist Party.

In 1996, she ran for mayor of Las Condes, a part of Santiago, but did not win. She then worked to support Ricardo Lagos in his presidential campaign in 1999.

Minister of Health

On 11 March 2000, President Ricardo Lagos appointed Michelle Bachelet as the Minister of Health. At the time, she was not very well known. She worked to improve the public health system and reduce waiting lists in hospitals. She managed to reduce waiting lists by 90%.

Minister of National Defense

Bachelet, as Minister of Defense, meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2002

On 7 January 2002, she was appointed Minister of National Defense. This was a big step, as she was the first woman to hold this position in a Latin American country. As Defense Minister, she worked to improve relations between the military and those who suffered during the dictatorship. She also oversaw updates to the Chilean armed forces. A famous moment was when she led a rescue operation during a flood, riding on top of a military tank. This helped her become very popular.

2005–2006 Presidential Election

By late 2004, Michelle Bachelet was very popular in opinion polls. She was asked to run for president as the candidate for the Coalition of Parties for Democracy. She agreed, feeling she could not let her supporters down. On 1 October 2004, she left her government job to start her campaign.

In the December 2005 election, she won 46% of the vote, which was not enough to win outright. In the second round on 15 January 2006, she faced Sebastián Piñera and won with 53.5% of the vote. This made her Chile's first female elected president. She was also the first woman in Latin America to become president through a direct election without being the wife of a previous leader.

On 30 January 2006, after being declared president-elect, Bachelet announced her cabinet. For the first time, it had an equal number of men and women, as she had promised during her campaign.

First Presidency (2006–2010)

Bachelet waving with other leaders at the inauguration ceremony in Valparaíso

First Actions as President

Michelle Bachelet became President of Chile on 11 March 2006. She promised to implement 36 measures in her first 100 days. These included things like free healthcare for older patients and reforms to the social security system. Her first trip as president was to Argentina, where she signed agreements on energy and transportation.

Key Policies and Reforms

Social Programs

• Pension Reform: In 2008, Bachelet signed a law to reform the pension system. This law helped guarantee a minimum pension for the poorest 60% of the population.
• Worker Protection: In 2006, she passed a law to protect subcontracted employees, helping many workers. In 2009, she introduced a law to ensure equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender.
• Child and Family Support: The "Chile Grows with You" plan, signed in 2009, provided social services for young children. Her government also gave "literary briefcases" (boxes of books) to poor families with young children.
• Technology Access: The "I Choose my PC" program, launched in 2009, gave free computers to seventh-graders from low-income families who had good grades.
• Maternity Support: From 2009 to 2010, Bachelet's government provided maternity packages to all babies born in public hospitals.

Education and Transport

• Student Protests: In 2006, there were large high school student protests demanding better public education. Bachelet created a committee to propose changes to the education system. In 2009, she signed an education reform bill into law.
• Santiago Subway: During her presidency, 18 new subway stations opened in Santiago.
• Transantiago: A new public transport system called Transantiago was introduced in Santiago in 2007. It faced many problems and was very unpopular, which affected her approval ratings.

Response to the 2010 Earthquake

On 27 February 2010, near the end of her term, a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Chile. It caused widespread damage and killed over 500 people. Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" and sent military troops to help. She was criticized for the slow initial response, but her government worked to manage the disaster.

Human Rights and Other Laws

Bachelet with former presidents Eduardo Frei and Ricardo Lagos during the inauguration of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in January 2010.

In 2009, Bachelet opened the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago. This museum tells the story of the human rights abuses during Pinochet's dictatorship. She also signed a law to create the National Institute for Human Rights.

Other important laws passed during her first term included a freedom of information bill in 2008 and a law creating the Ministry for the Environment in 2010.

Economy

Bachelet was praised for saving money from Chile's copper sales. In 2007, she created the Economic and Social Stabilization Fund. This fund helped her government pay for new social programs and economic support during the 2008 global financial crisis.

During her first term, Chile's economy grew steadily, and poverty decreased.

Political Challenges

Bachelet started her term with a majority in Congress, but she faced challenges from some lawmakers within her own coalition. When Augusto Pinochet died in December 2006, Bachelet decided not to give him a state funeral, but a military one. She did not attend the funeral herself.

Foreign Relations

Bachelet with former Argentine president Néstor Kirchner

• Neighbors: Bachelet dealt with ongoing issues with Argentina and Peru. This included disagreements over natural gas exports and border definitions.
• United Nations: In 2006, Chile had to vote for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Bachelet decided that Chile would not vote for any candidate, due to disagreements within her government.
• South American Unity: In 2008, Bachelet became the first leader of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur). She called for a special meeting to help resolve a political crisis in Bolivia.
• Cuba Visit: In 2009, she visited Cuba and met with Fidel Castro, urging the United States to end its trade embargo against Cuba.
• International Trade: Her government continued to sign free trade agreements with countries like China, Japan, India, and Australia.

Popularity During First Term

Job-approval ratings. Blue is approval; red is disapproval.

Bachelet's popularity was high at the start of her term. However, it dropped significantly due to the student protests and the problems with the Transantiago transport system. By September 2007, her approval rating was 35%.

However, her popularity began to rise again during the global financial crisis in 2008. When she left office in March 2010, her approval rating was very high, at 84%.

Chile's Constitution does not allow a president to serve two terms in a row. So, Bachelet supported Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle in the 2009 election.

Political Break (2010–2014)

After her first presidency, Michelle Bachelet started her own research center called "Fundación Dialoga." She also became a member of the Club of Madrid, a group of former heads of state.

In September 2010, she was appointed as the head of the new UN Women organization by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She worked there until March 2013.

2013 Presidential Election

On 27 March 2013, Michelle Bachelet announced that she would run for president again in the 2013 elections. Polls showed that many voters wanted her to be the next president.

She won the primary election for her political group, the Nueva Mayoría, with 73% of the vote. In the main election in November 2013, she did not win enough votes to win immediately. However, in the second round in December, she won against Evelyn Matthei with over 62% of the vote.

Second Presidency (2014–2018)

Senate President Isabel Allende, Bachelet and former president Sebastián Piñera on inauguration day at the National Congress, 11 March 2014

Michelle Bachelet began her second term as President of Chile on 11 March 2014. It was a historic moment because both the President and the President of the Senate, Isabel Allende, were women.

Domestic Policies

Education Reform

One of Bachelet's main promises for her second term was to make university education free in Chile. She also wanted to stop educational institutions from making profits. This was a response to the 2011–13 Chilean student protests.

In 2015, a part of her plan was rejected by the Constitutional Court. However, the remaining part allowed 200,000 students from low-income families to attend college for free. In 2018, a law was passed that guaranteed free education for the poorest 60% of students.

Tax Reform

In 2014, Congress passed Bachelet's tax reform plan. This plan aimed to increase government income by raising taxes on companies and adding "green" taxes on things like carbon emissions.

Some critics said these tax changes slowed down Chile's economy. However, supporters argued that falling copper prices were more to blame.

Environmental Policy

Bachelet's government made significant efforts to protect the environment:

• In 2017, a large marine protected area was created around Easter Island, protecting many ocean species.
• In January 2018, five new national parks were created in the Patagonia region, covering millions of acres.
• In March 2018, just before she left office, Bachelet created nine new marine reserves. This greatly increased the protected ocean area around Chile.

Civil Unions

Bachelet made it a priority to pass a civil union bill. In January 2015, the bill was approved by both houses of Congress. It was signed into law in April 2015 and took effect in October 2015.

This law allows couples to have their unions legally recognized. It gives them rights similar to married couples, such as pension benefits and the ability to inherit property.

Political Reform

In 2015, the Chilean Congress changed the voting system. This new system made elections fairer and required that 40% of political candidates be women. This change took effect in the 2017 elections.

Following a scandal involving her son, Bachelet created a special council to fight corruption. This led to reforms that made politicians more accountable for their actions. In 2016, Chileans living outside the country were given the right to vote.

Foreign Policy

Trade Agreements

President Bachelet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in 2015

Just before she left office in March 2018, Chile signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This is a major trade agreement with 10 other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Popularity During Second Term

Michelle Bachelet's approval ratings dropped significantly during her second term. In September 2015, her approval was 24%. This was mainly due to corruption scandals, including one involving her son and daughter-in-law.

By August 2016, her approval rating was at 15%, the lowest for any president since democracy returned in 1990. When she left office in March 2018, her approval rating was 39%, much lower than when she finished her first term.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2018–2022)

On 10 September 2018, Michelle Bachelet became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In this role, she spoke out about human rights issues around the world.

• China: She urged China to allow observers into Xinjiang due to concerns about the treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims.
• Yemen: She criticized the conflict in Yemen and called for accountability for attacks on civilians.
• Hong Kong: She expressed concern about violence during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, emphasizing the importance of peaceful assembly.
• Iran: She was asked to investigate alleged human rights abuses during protests in Iran.
• Palestine and Israel: She issued reports on Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, stating they are against international law. She also raised concerns about violence against Palestinians.
• COVID-19: During the pandemic, she asked the United States to ease sanctions on countries to help them deal with the virus.
• Nagorno-Karabakh: She expressed concern for civilians during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
• Sri Lanka: She reported on Sri Lanka's failure to address human rights crimes from its civil war.

In May 2022, Bachelet visited Xinjiang, China. She praised China's efforts to reduce poverty and improve healthcare. She also raised concerns about human rights in Xinjiang and encouraged China to review its policies. Her visit received mixed reactions from human rights organizations.

On 13 June 2022, Bachelet announced she would not seek a second term as UN High Commissioner. She said she wanted to spend more time with her family. Her report on Xinjiang was published on her last day in the role.

Awards and Recognition

Michelle Bachelet has received many awards and honors throughout her career:

• She was ranked among the world's most powerful women by Forbes magazine several times.
• Time magazine named her one of the world's most influential people in 2008.
• She received the Shalom Award from the World Jewish Congress in 2008.
• She was the first woman to receive the South American Football Honorary Order of Merit in 2009.
• She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2017.

Honorary Degrees

She has also received honorary degrees from many universities around the world, including:

• University of Brasília (2006)
• University of Essex (2008)
• Columbia University (2012)
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2015)

Honors

Presidential styles of Michelle Bachelet Jeria
Reference style	Her Excellency
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Alternative style	Madam President

Michelle Bachelet
Blazon	A heraldic interpretation of the Chilean flag.
Motto	Incluir para crecer (Include For Growing)
Order(s)	Order of the Seraphim Order of Charles III Order of Merit
Used since Bachelet's induction in the Order of the Seraphim.

National Honors (Chile)

• Grand Master and Collar of the Order of Merit
• Grand Master and Collar of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins

Foreign Honors

• Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia (2012)
• Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Italy (2007)
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, The Netherlands (2009)
• Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Spain (2010)
• Collar of the Order of Charles III, Spain (2014)
• Member of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, Sweden (2016)

Arms

• 

  As Dame of the Seraphim
  (Sweden)

• 

  As Grand Master of the Chilean Order of Merit
  (Chile)

• 

  As Dame of the Order of Charles III
  (Spain)

Images for kids

• 

  Michelle Bachelet's signature

See also

In Spanish: Michelle Bachelet para niños