A country in Santiago

Santiago is barely 0.3% of Chile’s surface area, yet it concentrates the entire country. A country that governs from Santiago. That judges from Santiago. That mints currency from Santiago. That trades stocks in Santiago.

That teaches from Santiago’s national universities. That inspires from Santiago’s national museums. That reports from Santiago’s national media. That operates its international flights from Santiago. That delivers its high-complexity medical care in Santiago.

That offers underground transit only in Santiago. That decides, from Santiago, what the rest of Chile can or cannot have. All this, despite the fact that 60% of Chile doesn’t live in Santiago.

The result is predictable: a capital with a gravitational pull that absorbs everything around it and grows without rest, having surpassed years ago its capacity in water, air, transportation, and housing, surrounded by regions given nothing to compete with. A self-reinforcing vicious cycle, because as a friend put it, it will always be more profitable to invest in Santiago first.

Santiago is too good for its own good. So good that it has been sucking the oxygen from the rest of the country and is now a victim of its own success.

The question is not how to fix the most modern and developed capital in Latin America. It’s how to give Chile back the possibility of existing outside of it. That question will be answered in Santiago.

Leo Prieto
Frutillar