Chile's Bachelet Sworn In

Socialist pediatrician Michelle Bachelet, who suffered prison, torture and exile under Chile's military dictatorship, was sworn in as the nation's first female president on Saturday.

"I want a government in which citizens have an active participation," the 54-year-old told residents of the town of Casablanca shortly after her inauguration. "A government at the service of people."

Bachelet took her oath before Senate President Eduardo Frei at the crowded Hall of Honor of Chile's Congress in this port city near Santiago, applauded by hundreds of people, including most of the leftist leaders that recently have come to power in South America.

In her first official act as president, Bachelet fulfilled a key campaign promise: she swore in her 20-member Cabinet of 10 men and 10 women. She has promised to have equal numbers of men and women in some 300 decision-making posts.

She also plans legislation that would require political parties to include a certain percentage of women in their lists of candidates in congressional and municipal elections.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met with Bachelet for 30 minutes ahead of the ceremony, described her election as a triumph of democracy.

Rice told Chile's state television that she expects U.S.-Chile relations will remain as close under Bachelet as they were under her predecessor and fellow Socialist, Ricardo Lagos.

Also on hand was the South American leader who most vexes Washington, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who gave the new president a kiss on the hand.

Bachelet appeared relaxed during the ceremony as she repeatedly waved in response to greetings from people in the stands. The 54-year-old president smiled broadly when someone shouted, "We love you, Michelle!"

Lagos removed the white, red and blue presidential sash he was wearing and handed it to Frei, a former president himself, who placed it on Bachelet.

At times, the exuberance of Bachelet's supporters burst through the solemnity. A group of mostly young people in the stands chanted, "Ole, Ole, Ole, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle!"

Bachelet is seen somewhat more to the left of Lagos, although equally supportive of the strict fiscal discipline and free-market economic policies that helped make Chile one of the region's success stories.

She's also expected to maintain Lagos' foreign policy, including close ties with the United States, which which Washington signed a free-trade accord.

Chavez, a close friend of Cuban President Fidel Castro and a persistent critic of the United States, saluted Bachelet's inauguration as further sign of a leftist swing in Latin America, following the victories of Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, Evo Morales in Bolivia and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

"South America has changed," he said. "A worker is president of Brazil, there comes Lula; an Indian is president of Bolivia; a woman is president of Chile, and in Venezuela, a revolutionary soldier, which is what I am."

Lagos - who ended his six-year term with an approval rating of more than 70 percent - was cheered as he left the presidential palace in Santiago and headed to Valparaiso for Bachelet's inauguration.

Some chanted "Lagos 2010, Lagos 2010," suggesting he should run again for president after Bachelet. Chilean law forbids immediate re-election.

Bachelet, a separated mother of three, is the first directly elected Latin American leader who didn't rise to power as the widow of a powerful husband and she has promised to bring more women into Chilean politics.

Her election has excited women's rights activists not only in Chile but abroad.

"There is no doubt that the United States has leaders of Bachelet's caliber to put up for high-office," said Marie C. Wilson, president of the White House Project, a nonprofit U.S. group that works for the advancement of women.

Bachelet is the daughter of an air force general who was tortured and died in prison for opposing the 1973 military coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Then a 22-year-old medical student, she herself was briefly imprisoned and tortured along with her mother before being forced into exile.

On Jan. 15, she won a runoff election for the four-year term of president, defeating Sebastian Pinera, a multimillionaire businessman who attended Saturday's ceremony.