Boric carries out a profound reform of the Chilean Government after the failed referendum

by time news

The President of Chile, Gabriel Boricannounced this Tuesday a series of changes within his cabinet among which the departure of the person in charge of the Interior, Izkia Siches, and the secretary general of the Presidency, Giorgio Jackson, stands out.

As Boric explained at a press conference from the Palacio de la Moneda, Carolina Tohá will be in charge of replacing Sicheswhile Jackson’s position will now pass into the hands of Ana Lya Uriarte.

Tohá, a member of the Party for Democracy, stands out for having held the Mayor’s Office of the capital, Santiago, between 2012 and 2016; as well as the General Secretariat of Government for a brief period of time in 2009 under the presidency of Michelle Bachelet (from 2006 to 2010, and from 2014 to 2018).

Once Boric has appointed Tohá as Minister of the Interior, andThe president has approached Siches to give him a hug, which has been applauded by those present in the Patio de los Cañones.

Uriarte, for her part, has experience as Chief of Staff of the Presidency between 2014 and 2018 during Bachelet’s second term, as well as Minister President of the National Environment Commission between 2007 and 2010.

Next to the exit of Siches and Jackson, tIt also highlights that of María Begoña Ayarza as Minister of Health, who has been replaced by Ximena Aguilera. Similarly, Silvia Díaz Acosta has been appointed as the new Minister of Science and Technology, replacing Flavio Salazar.

Finally, the person in charge of Energy, Claudio Huepe, has been replaced by Diego Pardow, a lawyer close to the president and in charge of preparing Boric’s electoral program for the last presidential elections.

Once the inauguration of the new ministers was over, the Head of State took the floor to acknowledge that “Cabinet changes are always dramatic.” “It hurts, but it is necessary. It is perhaps one of the most politically difficult moments that I have had to face,” he assured.

Along these lines, he noted that the appointment of new ministers “is not just protocol”but it is also about the change of the “political committee” and the “conduction of the Government”.

This movement occurs onlys two days after more than 62 percent of Chileans rejected the implementation of a new Magna Carta, a document prepared over a year by a Constituent Convention that emerged after a series of protests registered in Chile between October 2019 and March 2020.

During his speech, Boric emphasized that the new cabinet “will approach with sense of country” all the “emergencies” of Chile in relation to the new Constitution but “without neglecting the structural reforms” to which he committed himself during the electoral campaign”.

In fact, the president already announced on Sunday, the date on which the referendum was held, a series of changes in the government team, arguing that the “important and urgent challenges” require adjustments “to face this new period with renewed vigor.”

student protests

The day has also been marked by a student protest called early in the morning and that has been advancing along the Alameda towards the Palacio de la Moneda, as reported by the television channel Canal 13.

However, what was expected to be a peaceful march has quickly taken on violent overtones when a group of demonstrators has thrown blunt objects on public roads, thus provoking the intervention of the Carabineros.

Already in front of the presidential headquarters there have been moments of tension again when the participants in the protest have installed barricades and have thrown stones.

The security forces have used hoses and tear gas to repress the demonstrators. In addition, the arrest of at least six people, three of them minors, has been confirmed.

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