Commentary by Bill Stott

Earthquakes never come at a good time, but Chile’s catastrophic earthquake of last Saturday picked a particularly bad time because a political earthquake was already going on in the country.

Chile is in an interregnum between the governing-but-rejected center-left Concertación that groups four political parties and has run the country for the last 20 years, and the center-right Coalition for Progress that will take power, under President elect Sebastián Piñera, on March 11.

Museum. Eva Salinas, Santiago Times

The Concertación and the Coalition haven’t been able to stay out of each other’s way. When Piñera suggested that his incoming ministers collaborate with current President Michelle Bachelet’s ministers in responding to the earthquake emergency the country faces, he was told that the Concertación was going to stay in full authority till the last minute of its mandate.