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Michelle Bachelet was sworn in Saturday as Chile's first woman president, as socially conservative Chile moves boldly out of the shadow of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
Bachelet, a doctor, single mother and former defense minister was sworn in by Senate speaker Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, and takes over from fellow socialist Ricardo Lagos.
Her government will extend the rule of the center-left coalition that has governed the South American country since the end of Pinochet's regime in 1990.
Representatives from 120 countries were taking part in the ceremonies in the port city of Valparaiso. Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and South African President Thabo Mbeki were among the dignitaries on hand.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Saturday with Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales and discussed drug issues, on the sidelines of Bachelet's inauguration.
Rice and Morales did not immediately comment publicly on their discussion.
But a senior US official traveling with Rice said "she emphasized her desire to work in a cooperative manner" to counter drug trafficking.
On the plane en route to Chile Rice stressed the importance meeting with Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president and a former coca growers' union leader. Coca is the raw material from which cocaine is processed, but it is used in traditional Andean medicine and religion.
"President Morales has said that he is also concerned about the security issues associated with the drug trade and so I think that gives us a good starting point for discussion," Rice said.
Rice, a conservative, also called Bachelet, a socialist, a marvelous woman.
Bachelet garnered 53.5 percent of the vote in January's election, seven points ahead of conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera, and won in all but one of the country's 13 regions.
Bachelet, who has portrayed herself as an ordinary woman who understands the concerns of ordinary people, takes the helm of a country enjoying six percent annual economic growth but the second-biggest gap between the rich and poor in Latin America.
According to her associates, Bachelet is an indefatigable worker who sleeps little but enjoys parties and dancing. She is spontaneous, a straight-talker, affable and smiles easily, but at times can be stern.
Her suffering during the Pinochet regime has also won her sympathy from many people in a country still scarred by the 17-year dictatorship.
She and her parents were tortured during the military regime.
Her father, Alberto Bachelet, was an adviser to socialist president Salvador Allende, who was toppled by Pinochet in 1973. Tortured while in prison, Bachelet's father died six months later.
In 1975, she and her mother were held for about two weeks at Villa Grimaldi, an infamous torture center. The two women later fled, first to Australia and then to East Germany, where Bachelet completed her medical studies.
Her inauguration comes three days before the 32nd anniversary of her father's death.
In her first post-election speech in January, Bachelet paid tribute to him.
"At this moment there's someone who would be very proud. This man is my father," she said at the time. "I feel that, in an inexplicable way, I am close to him."
Pinochet, 90, was not allowed to vote in the January 15 election because he was awaiting trial over the deaths of dissidents during his dictatorship.
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AFP 111818 GMT 03 06
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