Chile’s Boric Fires Ministers After Bitter Referendum Defeat

Valentina Fuentes
·4 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Chile President Gabriel Boric fired his interior minister and removed one of his chief advisers Tuesday in a sweeping cabinet shake-up, tacking to the political center after voters overwhelmingly rejected a new constitution that his government had backed in a referendum.

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Boric dismissed Giorgio Jackson, who coordinated policy between the presidency, congress and the Constitutional Convention, which had drawn up the new charter. Izkia Siches, the interior minister and Boric’s former campaign manager, was fired after a series of well-publicized blunders. Both of them were replaced by people closer to the political mainstream.

The reshuffle represents a return for the parties of the center-left that governed Chile for most of the past 30 years, and which Boric had criticized for not doing enough to fight inequality. But it’s not just a political hit to the 36-year-old president. Boric, Jackson and Siches were friends dating from their time as student activists, though the latter two were the worst evaluated cabinet members, according to a survey by the polling agency Cadem.

“This hurts, but it is necessary,” Boric said after the ceremony. “It is perhaps one of the most difficult political moments that I have had to face.”

In a break with protocol, Boric stepped away from the desk where he was greeting the new ministers to give a tearful Siches a hug.

New Order

Jackson was replaced by Ana Lya Uriarte, a chief adviser to former President Michelle Bachelet, while Carolina Toha, a member of center-left PPD party, who served as the Presidential General Secretary under Bachelet, takes over the Interior Ministry.

Toha, Uriarte and Finance Minister Mario Marcel, are the new axis of power in the government, said Max Colodro, a political analyst and professor at the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez.

Boric had supported the constitutional process, with his coalition and like-minded independents representing the majority of the seats at the failed Convention. The president was relying on the new charter to help reform the pension, tax and labor systems.

Read More: Chileans Reject New Constitution in Blow to Leftist Leader

The reshuffle threatened to turn to farce after the government issued a statement saying that Nicolas Cataldo, a member of the Communist Party, was the new under-secretary at the Interior Ministry, replacing Manuel Monsalve.

The opposition protested, highlighting tweets he had sent, one of which accused the police of being torturers. Some lawmakers threatened to boycott meetings with Boric if Cataldo assumed the position. After a delay to the ceremony, Monsalve remained in his post and read out the cabinet changes.

‘Weak President’

Boric wanted to compensate the Communist Party by promoting Cataldo as the government shifts to the center, said Gonzalo Muller, head of the Center for Public Policy at Universidad del Desarrollo.

“It leaves the impression of a weak president who was trying to strengthen his position after an electoral defeat,” he said.

It was the sort of blunder that the government hoped they were putting behind them. Siches’ long record of mistakes date from her first month in office when she had to beat a quick retreat during a visit to indigenous lands in southern Chile after shots were fired in the air, stoking tensions in the region racked by violence.

In his new role as head of the Ministry of Social Development, Jackson will take over responsibility for some indigenous issues.

Siches had also claimed, incorrectly, that a group of immigrants flown out of the country by the previous administration had to be returned on the same plane and that their whereabouts were unknown.

Two weeks ago, Boric had to accept the resignation of his Social Development Minister Jeanette Vega after one of her advisers had contacted Hector Llaitul, the leader of an indigenous organization suspected of being involved in arson attacks.

Other Cabinet Changes

  • Diego Pardow, who has been one of Boric’s top advisers, is the incoming minister of Energy in replacement of Claudio Huepe

  • Ximena Aguilera, former director of the Center for Epidemiology and Health Policies of the Medicine school at Universidad del Desarrollo, will replace Maria Begona Yarza as minister of Health

  • Silvia Diaz assumes as minister of Science in replacement of Flavio Salazar

(Updates with opposition comments in the 10th paragraph.)

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