Diego Vela: Chile’s newest student leader

Diego Vela. Photo by New University Action Party.

The Student Federation of Universidad Católica (FEUC), one of the most influential social groups in the country, chose its new face Thursday night, electing commercial engineering student Diego Vela as its new president.

In an interview with The Santiago Times, Vela said he would continue the student movement’s fight for tuition-free education.

“We are extremely happy about the results of the election,” Vela said. “They show that students are still very committed to the demands the student movement has been making all along for public, free and quality education.”

After a two-day election, Vela secured the fifth consecutive victory for his center-left New University Action Party (NAU) with 53.8 percent of the vote, beating out the conservative Solidarity Party candidate Cristián Stewart, who received 46.2 percent.

While Vela conceded that the student movement’s path will be a difficult one, he remains hopeful that it will ultimately prove successful.

“I am optimistic in that I think we will eventually find a solution (to achieve tuition-free education), but I am also realistic in that I know this isn’t going to happen easily or quickly,” Vela said. “We need to stay in the streets. We need to stay united.”

When asked whether the movement might have to lower its expectations, given its limited progress to date, Vela rejected the idea, stating, “we absolutely cannot compromise on our demands.”

Chilean president Sebastián Piñera’s proposed 2013 budget includes an additional US$1.23 billion investment in education (a 9.4 percent increase from the previous year’s), but student leaders have expressed their dismay at its perceived prioritization of private over public education.

Stewart, whose Solidarity party led by 1.6 percent after the first day of voting, was gracious in defeat.

“I consider (Vela) to be a tremendous person, very human, very sensible,” Stewart told The Santiago Times. “And so I’m quite calm because I think he’ll be a great president.”

The Solidarity Party’s second place finish in the first round of voting prevented the well-established Conservative Movement (MGUC) party from reaching the final round of voting for the first time in their four-decade history. Stewart was thrilled about the exposure.

“I am very content and calm (about the results),” Stewart said. “We were able to convey a message that until this point we hadn’t been able to present on this level.”

Vela will replace fellow NAU member Noam Titelman as FEUC president. He promised to generally continue in the steps of his predecessor, whose accomplishments include successfully petitioning to factor a student’s high school class ranking into their university selection exams.

- The Santiago Times