Some Chileans in Utah heading to the polls Sunday to vote for Chile's new president

SALT LAKE CITY — Angela Rojas, originally from Chile but now living in Utah, feels a strong obligation to vote in Chile's upcoming presidential election.

It's not required since she no longer lives in the South American country, but she feels a sense of duty. The country is now led by leftist President Gabriel Boric and eight hopefuls from across the political spectrum are vying to replace him in Sunday's voting, with immigration a big issue, at least as Rojas sees it.

"For president, yes, it's necessary to vote because my country is a disaster right now. We have to change the people who are leading the country because they haven't done a good job," Rojas said. She's from Viña del Mar, Chile, but has lived in the United States for 25 years, now residing in Provo.

Patricia North, who's from Chile but now lives in Vineyard, also feels a sense of duty to vote — to help bring about change for the betterment of family members still living in the country. She's from Santiago, the Chilean capital, but has lived in the United States for 29 years and is now a U.S. citizen.

"I personally say we need to vote because if we don't, how are we going to bring about change?" she said. "Those of us who still have family living in Chile, who still visit the country, we're interested more than anything because of our families."

Chileans go to the polls Sunday to pick a new president, and among those casting ballots will be Chilean expatriates living in Utah, like Rojas and North. The Chilean government will set up a polling place at the Sheraton Hotel in Salt Lake City permitting eligible Chileans in Utah to cast ballots from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's one of many polling sites around the world for Chileans living abroad, though the expatriates had to register the address of their foreign homes with Chilean authorities by last June to be eligible.

At stake in the voting is leadership of the nation for the next four years, the length of presidential terms in Chile. Still, Sunday's voting likely won't settle things. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off on Dec. 14, and recent polling shows no single candidate garnering more than 30% support. The Financial Times says Jeannette Jara, the Communist Party candidate and the main leftist hopeful, topped a recent poll with 27% backing. She was followed by two "hard-right" hopefuls, José Antonio Kast and Johannes Kaiser, and a "traditional conservative," Evelyn Matthei.

Some 3,300 Chileans now live in Utah, estimates North, up from 600 when she arrived in the mid-1990s, and Miguel Echeverria, another Chilean now living in Utah, senses a desire in Chile for change.

"I think Chileans, in general, will lean for someone who's centrist or center-right, not radical but centrist. I don't think the average Chilean wants a radical left-winger or a radical right-winger," said Echeverria, now living in Orem.

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Both Rojas and North think immigration, particularly from Venezuela and Colombia, is a big issue for Chileans, paralleling the immigration worries of many Americans. As the two women see it, some immigrants in Chile are taking jobs from Chileans and sapping public resources without contributing to the country. Rojas, who leads a group that promotes Chilean culture, the Chilean Association of Utah, thinks tighter border security is needed.

"Everyone's migrating to Chile. Chile was a rich, stable country, and since they've opened the borders, it's become a disaster," she said. "We were the richest, most cultured, most educated people in Latin America. We had a lot of good things in our country, and everything's been destroyed due to bad governmental administration and immigration."

Similarly, North recently returned to Chile for a visit and sensed discontent, particularly because of increasing immigration into the country.

"You can see it in the people, you can see it in the street," she said. "When you talk to the people, the people — like here — really aren't happy with immigration."

One Santiago neighborhood is now called New Venezuela, she said, because so many Venezuelans live in the area. "No one can go there because it's as if it were Venezuela, dangerous," she said.

Getting a handle on crime is a big issue for Rojas, and she thinks health care, retirement funding and education are also big issues.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly said the presidential term in Chile is six years, but it is four years.

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