Chilean President Gabriel Boric began his parental leave of five days on Thursday after the birth of his daughter, Violeta, on Wednesday night. This is the first time a president has used the right to paid parental leave in Chile.

Boric, 39, is the first Chilean president to become a father during his term in office in over nine decades. Parental leave for new fathers in the Andean country has existed since 2011 and is voluntary. The president had confirmed several times that he would use this right.

Boric and his partner Paula Carrasco — an environmental chemist and public official at the environment ministry — became parents just nine months from the end of the president’s term, in March 2026. He had announced the pregnancy last December.

Carrasco, 31, gave birth at the Chile University’s Clinical Hospital.

Speaking outside the hospital on Thursday morning after the birth of his daughter, Boric expressed “deep admiration” for his partner and said that “becoming a father and seeing what nature, the human body, women can do, is truly moving.”

“Now, when I speak, I will always speak as a father and also as president,” Boric said. “I have a tremendous sense of responsibility for the present, for Chile’s future, for the country the Violetas of the future will inherit. I will be as present as I can within my possibilities.”

Despite taking parental leave, Boric’s government has confirmed that he will still work remotely. According to the local press, he will also travel to his hometown, Punta Arenas, on Sunday to vote in the primary presidential elections.

Science Minister Aisén Etcheverry said earlier this week that “fatherhood and motherhood are natural parts of life” and that, as public officials, it was their right to use parental leave. “The president will take leave for five days, in which the entire team will be occupied to continue working. The president will always be online because that’s how he operates.”

Boric’s case is extremely unusual: it is not only rare for incumbent presidents to become parents in the region, but even more so for them to take parental leave. In 2022, the then Argentine President Alberto Fernández became father to his son Francisco, but decided to continue working as usual. In Argentina, paid leave for parents is mandatory, but is only two days long.