Why Chile Really Matters; What's critical is not its new president's gender, but its quiet economic vibrancy.

Byline: Jorge G. Castaneda (Castaneda, a former foreign minister of Mexico, is now Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American Studies at New York University)

In the reams of commentary about newly inaugurated Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, two statements are systematically repeated. The first contrasts the supposedly conservative nature of Chilean society against the fact that Bachelet is the first woman to be elected president of a major Latin American nation. The second hails the popularity and stature of former leader Ricardo Lagos, elevating him to the ranks of Latin American elder statesmen. Both items of conventional wisdom deserve closer scrutiny.

It is true that Chile until recently had no divorce law, and that films were still censored when the church or someone else objected to their content. But social values involve much more than that, and in many ways Chile has always been one of Latin America's most enlightened societies--not as European as Argentina, certainly, nor as liberal in its mores and culture as Brazil, but certainly more tolerant and open than Mexico, Colombia or Peru. It already was a middle-class country--granted, a poor one--as far back as the early 1970s, and its travails with modernization, dictatorship and democratization have made it open to political deals, social compacts and even cultural experimentation unthinkable elsewhere. Indeed, it is not only not surprising that Chile is the first country in the region to elect a woman president; it was to be expected.

What is surprising is the stark contrast between Chile's record and its standing in Latin America. Between 1989, when the current Socialist/Christian Democratic coalition reached power and democracy returned to the country, and 2005, the Chilean economy has grown nearly 6 percent per year, more than doubling per capita income. Poverty has been drastically reduced; education, health, housing and other social indicators have all improved significantly, and even inequality, that terrible bane of all hemispheric societies, has finally begun to diminish, albeit modestly. For practical purposes, Chile is on the verge of occupying the lowest rung of the highest ladder: becoming a still poor but now developed nation, perhaps like Greece or Portugal a few years ago in Western Europe, like Poland or South Korea more recently.

Chileans have dealt with the past bravely and prudently, prosecuting, jailing and stigmatizing those who deserve it, but not allowing themselves to be consumed by ...