In a tough move seen as inevitable by analysts, Chilean President Gabriel Boric has reshuffled his 24-member cabinet and fired the heads of five ministers. The reorganization happens after the failure of its ambitious tax reform and on the eve of completing his first year in government.
It is the second time that the young Social Democratic leader has been forced to change his cast of ministers. The previous one occurred last September when 62% of the national electorate rejected the text of a new Constitution that had the support of the president.
Among the ministers replaced, there is the head of Foreign Relations, Antonia Urrejola, who was replaced by Alberto van Klaveren, a career diplomat of the centrist Party for Democracy who held the position of undersecretary of the portfolio. It was the second attempt after previous candidate Mara Mauras refused or was unable to due to compromising tweets from the past.
Those responsible for the Public Works, Culture, Science and Sports portfolios also left. The head of the latter, Alejandra Benado, was in charge of organizing the Pan American and Parapan American Games to be held in Chile between October and November.
After taking the oath of his new collaborators, Boric recognized a context of complications. “We have had difficulties, who could deny it?” He declared, alluding to a wave of inflation and insecurity in the face of a most violent crime already one uncontrolled irregular immigration.
With the changes on Friday, the cabinet was made up of 12 ministers from Democratic Socialism, 11 from Apruebo Dignidad and one independent, and maintained parity, with 12 men and 12 women. In addition, he replaced 15 deputy ministers, of whom seven are from the center-left, five are independent, and three are Approve Dignity.
The tax reform was intended to finance the bulk of his government program. On Wednesday the Chamber of Deputies rejection canceling the possibility of collecting, in four years, 3.6% of GDP.
The Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, affirmed that without the tax reform it will not be possible to finance a promised increase in the amount of pensions, from the equivalent of 257 to 312 dollars; nor expedite the massive waiting lists in hospitals or give more resources to primary health.
The current tax collection in Chile implies 19.3% of GDP, that is, levels below the average in Latin America, that is around a floor of 21.9%. It is also one of the lowest among the partners of the OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The plan forced three percent of the population to pay more taxes.
inequalities
Chile is facing one of the most important inequality indices in the region. One of the reasons, according to specialists, is that the State does not have enough financing to improve key issues such as health, education and security.
Boric had lamented that “retirees will not be able to count on financing for the increase in the Universal Guaranteed Pension”, adding that it is bad news for those who “wait for timely care in hospitals and clinics, for women who are waiting for progress of the universal nursery (nursery) and for the elderly and people with disabilities”.
The analyst Axel Callís, quoted by the German wave He explained that this failure is explained by the fact that the government “does not have a majority in either of the two chambers. The majority that he had built was fragile.”
“No political experience”
María Lagos, director of the pollster Latinobarómetro He maintained that “it was a political error by the government, because their own deputies were not in the room or they withdrew, and they lost the election because of that.” He explained that the left, or more clearly the center-left of the government, “is poorly organized and structured.”
It has few political professionals, he said. Instead, “the right has had an ‘army’, people professionally dedicated to politics, with goals, structures and organization. The left works a lot like an NGO. That’s amateur.”.
The previous failure of the Boric government with the new Constitution was also a consequence of mischaracterization of the ministers. The president embraced that project that would replace the Magna Carta left by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
The text, however, was drafted by a minority sector that literally ignored more than half of the country who are aligned with the center left and the center right, which are the forces that dominate Congress.
The document proposed a series of changes that resembled a political platform, with the reduction of powers of the Judiciary and the closure of the Senate and the creation of a parallel justice system for indigenous peoples, mainly Mapuche. These distortions resulted in an overwhelming result of 62% against with about 30 percent in favor.
Boric is now carrying out another draft Constitution, but this time and due to pressure from the Socialist Party, among others, a group of experts was appointed to carry out the draft with which the constituents should be guided.
Santiago. Agencies