Chile’s President makes Cabinet changes after constitutional plebiscite

The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, made several changes in his Cabinet after the people rejected the constitutional proposal in the referendum over the weekend, removing six ministers from office.

Two removed ministers are figures close to the president, such as Izkia Siches of the Interior, and Giorgio Jackson, of the General Secretariat of the Presidency.

“The President of Chile accepted the resignations of Minister Izkia Siches Pastén and Giorgio Jackson Drago from the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security and the Ministry of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, respectively,” informed the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, the authority who, by tradition, is in charge of leading the Cabinet change ceremonies.

The figure of Siches was recognized when taking office for becoming the first woman in history to head the Interior portfolio, but during her administration, she was constantly criticized for controversial statements that forced her to apologize several times.

On the other hand, Minister Jackson, a close friend and right-hand man of the president, was one of the Secretaries of State most closely linked to the constituent process, so that the overwhelming defeat of the approval of the new Constitution in the referendum, an option supported by the government (38% against 61% for the rejection), weakened his political image.

In replacement of Siches, Boric appointed Carolina Tohá, a militant of the Party for Democracy (center-left), whose figure is associated with the ex-Concertación sector, where former presidents Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010 and 2014-2018), Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006) and Eduardo Frei (1994-2000) militate, giving a sign of unity between the left and the center-left.

In Jackson’s position, the president appointed Ana Lya Uriarte, who worked as Bachelet’s advisor for years.

The other ministries where there were changes were: Health, where Minister María Yarza left and Dr. Ximena Aguilera entered; in Science, Flavio Salazar left, and scientist Silvia Díaz entered; in Energy, Claudio Huepe left, and engineer Diego Pardow entered; and in Social Development, Paula Poblete left, and Giorgio Jackson took over.

Meanwhile, Boric acknowledged that the profound Cabinet change was one of the most challenging moments of his political career when he removed six ministers from their positions, two of whom were very close to the president.

“I am making this Cabinet change thinking of our country, Cabinet changes are always dramatic in Chile, and this one has not lacked its dose, it had to hurt, and it hurts, but it is necessary, it is perhaps, and I have no reason to hide it, one of the most difficult moments, politically speaking, that I have had to face,” said the president in a speech after the ceremony.

SETBACK

The ceremony was delayed more than an hour after a setback in the government because the appointment of a new Undersecretary of the Interior was complicated.

The president wanted to appoint Nicolás Cataldo, a professor and militant of the Communist Party (left), as Undersecretary of the Interior, and immediately the opposition pointed out a series of controversial tweets that Cataldo had written in the past, mainly against the Carabineros.

Boric had to step back and downgrade his appointment, yielding to pressure from the right, and kept the current Undersecretary Manuel Monsalve in place.

The announcement comes as thousands of Chilean students demonstrated against the administration of President Gabriel Boric in front of the seat of government, La Moneda palace.

With information from Sputnik