MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bachelet travels to Northern European Nations

President Michelle Bachelet left Chile late Sunday evening for a state visit to northern European nations where she will meet with Finnish President Tarja Halonen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stotltenberg and Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey. Bachelet will return to Chile on June 4.

While in Europe the President will also meet with Chileans living abroad, updating them on her effort to secure voting privileges for Chileans scattered around the globe. Many Chileans in Europe were exiled during the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Both Bachelet and her rightist opponent, businessman Sebastián Piñera, promised to support this voting rights initiative in their 2006 presidential race, but Chile's two conservative parties recently thwarted legislation designed to secure the vote for Chileans abroad. Bachelet spent the hours immediately before her departure to Europe at the La Moneda presidential palace, which was open to the public as part of the annual National Cultural Patrimony day, an event celebrated the last Sunday of each May since 2000. The President received and gave tours to visiting citizens at La Moneda most of Sunday afternoon. The La Moneda was just one of hundreds of Chilean public buildings open to the public on the special Sunday holiday, staffed with government. Before departing for Europe from Santiago's airport, Bachelet officially turned all executive responsibilities over to Interior Minister Belisario Velasco, who will be the nation's acting Vice-President until the President's return on June 4. By Steve Anderson The Santiago Times