The Government suspended the start of the processing of the Intermediate State, as it did not have the necessary support —even in its own bloc— to carry out the measure that seeks to be an alternative, in the face of the militarization that is expressed in the State of Constitutional Exception that the opposition supports in seeking to take charge of rural violence in the south.
The Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Giorgio Jackson, acknowledges that there is a division within the ruling party and stated that the issue “is something that has not yet generated the necessary consensus.”
Yesterday, after heading a police committee in the city of Concepción, Undersecretary Monsalve said that it seems legitimate and logical to him that if the Government makes a commitment, it must be fulfilled, “but the 15 days have not ended.” And, as the term has not expired, he added, “the commitment we have made has not expired either.” The proposal was submitted 12 days ago.
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In interview with The Mercury of Valparaíso, Minister Jackson explained that the Intermediate State is “a constitutional reform that requires three-fifths of Congress and, therefore, we want all the doubts that have arisen within our coalition to be resolved in order to move forward firmly to get the missing votes”.
The task, according to the head of the Segpres, is “to listen to the testimonies of both people who suffer from insecurity of traveling along the roads transporting, carrying out their work, as well as those people who do not want there to continue to be stoppages on the roads that prevent the passage of both food and supplies or even ambulances that many times have not been able to pass”.
“If we think about what is happening to the affected people, it is easier to be able to generate a climate of greater consensus around some measures that, I imagine, no government would like to have to apply. We would love for this not to exist, but once the conflict is there, the question is how do you deal with it,” added Minister Jackson, who is in charge of the talks to advance the government’s legislative agenda in Congress.
The Government, according to the Segpres minister, “must guarantee that people’s rights and road safety are not violated again, and that people who commit crimes or are associated with organized crime are going to be to pursue”.
The State of Exception is still an option
During a press point, after speaking with the leadership of the Constituent Convention, Minister Giorgio Jackson returned to address the acts of violence in the south, assuring that the government has not ruled out any alternative, including re-establishing the already well-known State Constitutional Emergency Exception.
Consulted by the Intermediate State project that is stuck in its presentation to Congress, the Secretary of State asserted that “we have consensus in supporting the idea that there is a problem on which we cannot have inaction.” In this sense, he affirmed that “action must be done”.
“We are not ruling out any of the options that we have on the table. And once we have an announcement from the Ministry of the Interior, we will have consolidated a large part of the unity of action that we require to advance in this matter,” added Giorgio Jackson, sentencing that “all the ideas that have been put on the table continue”.
“There are still days to reach the announcement (of the comprehensive plan), so we will deploy our agenda hoping that we will have results in the short, medium and long term. The priority is people’s insecurity, which is still latent, as well as prosecution of crime, with better intelligence,” said Jackson, in line with what was raised by Undersecretary Monsalve.
And he added: “In addition, we must work on medium and long-term issues, reviewing those that have dragged on for years and cannot be solved overnight.”
