The mockery of time.

In the novel "La burla del tiempo," Mauricio Electorat narrates the return of the protagonist to a Chile that no longer fully exists, but also doesn't completely disappear. It is, at its core, the story of a generation that believed it was fighting for great ideals, and that over the years, discovered that behind certain grand narratives could also lie lies, betrayal, and indifference. The work states this with starkness: neither active politics nor resistance had anything to do with the books by Sartre and Camus that fueled youthful dreams, as reality would later demonstrate. Some of this can be seen in the reaction of some people to the National Reconstruction Law promoted by the government of President Kast. The statement by Deputy Jaime Araya – announcing a "tsunami" of amendments – would be merely a joke if it didn't reveal something much more serious, such as the explicit intention of turning the regulations into a barricade and democratic deliberation into a legislative obstruction tactic. Indeed, one thing is to present amendments to improve a bill, but quite another is to announce, with arrogance, a flood of amendments with the political purpose of making urgent legislation unworkable. The goal is not to deliberate, correct, or perfect, but to delay, obstruct, and transform legislative responsibility into a spectacle of attrition. The triviality of the metaphor is also significant. Chile knows all too well what a tsunami means. It is not an innocent word. It evokes destruction, loss, emergency, and devastated communities. Using it as a humorous regulatory term to describe a strategy of obstruction reveals a deep moral disconnect from the country's urgent needs. This is where the "burla del tiempo" (the mockery of time) comes in. Those who today present themselves as guardians of social justice were either architects or heirs of a political coalition that promised fiscal responsibility, equity, and growth through major reforms. The 2014 tax reform was presented with noble objectives, but a decade later, its failure is evident, and the country is paying the costs of a more expensive state, a weaker economy, and a political system incapable of recognizing its mistakes. The opposition prefers to act as if deficits fell from the sky and stagnation had no authors, as if uncontrolled spending were a meteorological inevitability and not a misguided economic policy decision of their own making. Therefore, when a government now attempts to correct course, the response is not a responsible alternative, a serious proposal, or even a well-articulated technical critique. It is a "tsunami" of amendments. They opt for a sea that sweeps everything away. Instead of a current that propels the country forward, they choose a wave that paralyzes everything. As in Electorat, time will ultimately mock those who, having once promised to change history, ended up being reduced to celebrating their ability to set it back. By Gabriel Zaliasnik, Professor of Criminal Law, University of Chile.