BARCELONA — Former Chilean Senator Isabel Allende will serve as the primary Chilean speaker at the upcoming Global Progressive Mobilisation (GPM) summit in Barcelona. The forum, scheduled for April 17-18, will feature prominent international leaders including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi.
Allende, the honorary president of the Socialist International, will lead two panels during the event. Her first session, titled “Preserving memory to defend democracy,” takes place Friday afternoon alongside representatives from the Pablo Iglesia and Rafael Campodeaux foundations.
On Saturday, she will participate in a second panel, “Promoting democracy, defeating the far right,” alongside European socialist politicians Tanja Fajon, Víctor Negrescu, José Luís Carneiro, and Paul Magnette.
A platform for progressive strategy
The summit follows the precedent of the “In Defense of Democracy” meeting held in Santiago in July 2025. Organizers from the Socialist International, the Progressive Alliance, and the Socialist Party of Europe intend to use the forum to address the rise of conservative movements globally.
“The world is going through a moment of profound instability,” the summit's official call stated. “Conservative and far-right forces in all continents claim to offer the only viable response to uncertainty. That is false. There is another way: a progressive way.”
While Chilean President Gabriel Boric is also attending the summit, Allende will be the sole Chilean speaker for the GPM forum. Boric requested permission from the Chilean Congress to travel to Spain for the event.
The meeting also marks a potential diplomatic reconciliation between Allende and Boric. Relations between the two cooled following a legal dispute regarding the failed sale of the Allende family home on Guardia Vieja street, which led to Allende's removal from the Senate last April.
Boric previously expressed support for the former legislator on social media, stating, “The people of Chile owe much to Isabel Allende... in the recovery of democracy, in the advances of women's rights, [and] in the protection of workers.”
The Barcelona summit will also address the geopolitical tensions stemming from conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran, alongside the political shifts seen in the United States.
