Deputy Pamela Jiles, of the Partido de la Gente (PDG, a Chilean populist party), used her X account to reject remarks by Johannes Kaiser and by her fellow party caucus member Javier Olivares about Michelle Bachelet. Both targeted the former president after she did not rule out a possible third presidential run.
According to T13, Olivares called on Bachelet to stay "as far away as possible" from politics. "I hope Mrs. Bachelet goes home and enjoys her grandchildren," said the PDG deputy.
Olivares also referred to former mayor and former presidential candidate Evelyn Matthei. "She could follow in Mrs. Matthei's footsteps, cook and make some good cazuelas to teach people," he said.
Kaiser, president of the Partido Nacional Libertario (PNL, National Libertarian Party), focused on Bachelet's age. On the podcast "Cómo te lo explico", he said the former president would be between 77 and 78 years old at the next elections. "I think the former president's health has deteriorated, it shows," he said, and compared her to United States President Donald Trump.
Jiles responded to Olivares first. "Respect for women is paramount. I have enormous differences with Michelle Bachelet, but I do not accept mistreatment by any man of female figures in politics," she wrote. The gesture carries weight of its own: both belong to the same party.
She was harsher toward Kaiser. She described his statement as "a rotería against a woman" and denounced a "true epidemic of mistreatment of female figures in politics on account of their bodies and their gender". She also remarked ironically: "I don't know if Kaiser is in a position to criticize other people's physical condition."
According to BioBioChile, the deputy took the same line against Senator Rodolfo Carter. Carter had called Matthei "spiteful" and said: "I hope that when I reach her age I don't end up like that." Jiles replied that the remark was "a rotería" against the former mayor, with whom she also acknowledges differences.
The possible candidacy of Bachelet, who has already governed twice, opened a broader debate. President José Antonio Kast considered it legitimate, while Senator Camila Flores (RN, Renovación Nacional, a center-right party) accused the left of recycling leaders.
Jiles closed her position with a slogan that, she said, should apply regardless of political affiliation: "A cordon sanitaire against any form of violence against women". Neither Kaiser nor Olivares had responded to her criticism, according to the sources consulted.
