Gonzalo Winter, the Guardian of Boric’s Legacy

When Gonzalo Winter, a lawyer from the University of Chile and former student leader, first ran for the Chamber of Deputies at the age of 30 in 2017, his campaign launched a video that aimed to capture the spirit of his coalition, the Broad Front. In the message, a 65-year-old man, a socialist activist for half a century, was seen writing a letter to his comrade, the late president Salvador Allende. He spoke about how Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship had privatized health, education, and water. He also mentioned how the citizens expelled Augusto Pinochet by fighting in the streets and voting. “I thought the Concertación [center-left coalition that governed from 1990 to 2010] was the continuation of that struggle, but what started as resistance ended up in a race for power quotas and silent loyalty to the large economic groups,” he pointed out in the letter. He expressed his disappointment with the Socialist Party and its lack of support for student, pensioner, and women’s protests. “In those mobilizations, I felt the resurgence of that spirit that shook me when you were president,” he noted, and concluded by confessing that he was no longer a socialist: “Today I must find a new home, and that new home is the Broad Front.”

In that election, Winter secured a seat with 1.2% of the votes, helped by his list mate, another former student leader, then-deputy Giorgio Jackson. To communicate with the public, he hosted a weekly program on social media called Good morning to all—a nod to an iconic Chilean morning show Good morning to everyone, using inclusive language. He was one of his party’s voices during the social upheaval in 2019, advocating for the reformation of the police, stating on CNN that he was not against barricades, and that he voted in Congress to impeach then-president Sebastián Piñera, “as an act of defense for democracy.”

In 2021, he was re-elected and obtained the third highest national votes in an election where Chileans also elected as President of the Republic his close friend and political ally, Gabriel Boric. Today, nearly four years later, Winter has taken on the challenge of representing Boric as a presidential candidate for the Broad Front and will compete this Sunday with other leftist formations to define the official candidate in the race for La Moneda.

Unless there is a surprise, the Broad Front candidate is unlikely to win the primaries, as he ranks third in the polls, led by the Democratic Socialist candidate, Carolina Tohá, and the communist Jeanette Jara, the most competitive candidates. The number of votes they receive is significant because it is the first citizen assessment in presidential code since they arrived at La Moneda with Boric, a leader of a formation that went from street protests to the Presidency in just ten years. In the 2021 presidential campaign, they spoke of Boricmania. In this campaign, Winter must retain as much of that momentum as possible.

The deputy’s strategy, though less explicit than in 2017, has again been to attack the Concertación. He has directed his criticism at Tohá, accusing her of portraying a discourse suggesting that the era of major reforms is over and being nostalgic for the 90s. During the campaign, he told EL PAIS that “Chile would be a more modern country and would reach development more easily if there were no social classes,” and that the discourse of moderation as a banner would not allow the left to gain votes from those supporting far-right candidates. The Democratic Socialist Party has perceived his criticisms as a sign of ingratitude, given that several of its members, including Tohá, joined Boric’s Administration when the first constitutional process led by the harder left failed at the beginning of his term.

For the Broad Front, it was not easy to find a candidate for these primaries. Once the option of former Socialist president Michelle Bachelet, who represented unity among leftist forces, was discarded, their efforts focused on Broad Front member Tomás Vodanovic, mayor of Maipú, who achieved re-election with the highest number of votes nationally. However, Vodanovic turned down the candidacy proposal.

The focus then shifted to Gonzalo Winter, who, according to party members, had initially been an early option but was dismissed due to his impending fatherhood. After discussing it with his partner, architect María Dolores Reyes, an adviser at La Moneda, Winter ultimately accepted. He acknowledges it has not been easy, as young Manuel is six months old, three of which his father has been a presidential candidate, carrying the associated time burden. To help manage the campaign outings, meetings of the team have taken place in the deputy’s home in central Santiago, with the baby present. In fact, he appeared from behind in the first episode of the candidate’s TV segment.

Gonzalo Rodolfo Winter Etcheberry is the son of conservative economist Jaime Winter and lawyer María Elena Etcheberry, former superintendent of health insurances during ex-Concertación president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle’s term (1994-2000). His parents separated when Winter, the youngest of three siblings, was five years old. He attended Verbo Divino, an elite Chilean school, which also saw former president Sebastián Piñera as an alumnus.

As a teenager, he wore earrings, rings, and his shirts backward, and would ride buses without a destination. With a leftist sensitivity, he unsuccessfully tried to become president of the Student Center, though he served as a culture delegate—participating in a theater workshop and appearing in a short film. Those who knew him as a teenager recall it was like listening to an adult speak. He enjoyed theory, just as he does now. Colleagues in Congress remark that they might need to resolve a very specific issue, but Winter can often elaborate extensively on the economic frameworks underpinning the matter.

He eventually entered Law at the University of Chile, following the family tradition: his grandfather Alfredo Etcheberry was one of the most prominent and influential criminal lawyers in Chile. He enrolled in 2006, the year of the so-called Penguin Revolution, led by schoolchildren protesting for radical educational changes. “It was a super relevant event for our generation because it was the first mobilization not entirely manageable by the Concertación. From there, a new way of understanding things, a new vision emerged,” Winter told EL PAIS after distributing pamphlets at a Metro station in Ñuñoa.

At university, he was part of Izquierda Arrebol, and although Boric belonged to a different platform, they met and connected. Later, in 2011, there were student protests, and Winter, with his communication skills, was often given the megaphone to close the assemblies. Sometimes he did, other times Boric did, who was president of the Student Federation of the University of Chile (Fech). Later, both would join the Social Convergence party, which evolved into the Broad Front alongside several collectives that emerged during those years.

In the party, some view Winter’s close friendship with Boric—who even gave him parenting advice—as a hindrance in the campaign, as it limits his freedom to criticize the crises faced by the government. They assert another colleague would have been different because they are “best friends.” In anticipation of a possible defeat on Sunday, Winter stated on the program Shift that the Broad Front will remain in good standing because there are projected leaderships like Vodanovic, the mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti, and deputy Diego Ibáñez, among others: “We will have the most voted president in history, the most voted mayor in history, and all under 40 years old.”

In fact, those who acknowledge they do not have a chance of winning are focused on securing significant vote blocks in areas where they usually perform well, such as the Metropolitan Region, Valparaíso, Biobío, and Maule. This is in preparation for the parliamentary elections, which will occur concurrently with the presidential vote in November. They are also monitoring the impact of the Convention Cases in Antofagasta, involving former FA member, deputy Catalina Pérez, who has been charged with three counts of tax fraud. She is one of the faces of the integrity issues that have affected the Broad Front’s public image, which rose to power with a discourse of moral superiority that has since had to moderate, like several other narratives.