Despatch from Santiago
ENSCONCED amid the majestic fjords and glaciers of western Patagonia, we Pelados have long looked on with wry condescension at the political chaos and corruption that so regularly seems to engulf the Americas.
In recent times, however, an avalanche of scandal and skulduggery threatens to lay waste to Chile’s cherished reputation for political and institutional probity.
The first telltale sign came with Pentagate, an epic and ongoing scandal involving one of our country’s most prestigious consultancy firms. It turns out that the firm, Penta, was more interested in enriching Chile’s hard-right political party, the IDU, than serving its own clients, through a series of bribes and illegal donations.