The arrival of Ana Lya Uriarte at the Ministry of the General Secretariat of the Presidency (Segpres) was a surprise, and her departure was unforeseen due to serious health problems. The complication of a Covid that she contracted in December led to what is called “long Covid”, which made it difficult for her to breathe, walk and work. This ended up sealing the fate of Ana Lya Uriarte, a woman who, due to a last minute change, became Minister Secretary General of the Presidency eight months ago, in September 2022.
Ana Lya Uriarte’s career was full of fortuitous things. The appearance of some tweets that Nicolás Cataldo (PC) had published nearly ten years ago criticizing the Carabineros frustrated the intention of President Gabriel Boric to appoint the communist militant as Undersecretary of the Interior. This last-minute event caused Manuel Monsalve to be returned to his post as undersecretary and what should be the new post of the then Interior Chief of Staff, Ana Lya Uriarte, in the General Undersecretary of the Presidency, remain vacant.
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In what has become customary for this administration, that first cabinet change was full of surprises, and the arrival of Ana Lya Uriarte was the surprise of that first cabinet change. The Segpres was a hot dish that nobody wanted to serve after passing through that Giorgio Jackson portfolio. The Democratic Revolution militant only reaped criticism and failures in a Congress that was very unsympathetic towards him and especially fragmented with 22 political parties represented.
Ana Lya Uriarte came from being chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior at the time, Izkia Siches, a doctor who met President Boric when they were student leaders and who had played a leading role in the second presidential round. Siches arrived to cheers but she had the shortest known grace period for interior minister. Her attempt to get closer to the Mapuche cause with an untimely and unprepared trip to Temucuicui sealed her fate, and after that she was never able to take off in office. Ana Lya Uriarte came to take charge of the cabinet when Siches had only been in office for two months, trying to bring some order and destiny.
The arrival of Minister Ana Lya Uriarte to the Senate on the first day of her term in the Segpres was photographic, and the image that marked her was the warm embrace with Senator Francisco Chahuán (RN) upon arriving at a Senate commission. Her hugs and greetings opened the doors of a Congress that had been especially hostile to a Giorgio Jackson who was not very skilled with parliamentarians. She started off on the right foot and very smiling; the TPP11 was her first achievement.
He was in charge of the complex ratification of the new National Prosecutor. There were four previous votes until the appointment of Ángel Valencia was achieved and in this process, Valencia was not his candidate, but he ended up accepting it as the lesser evil. Uriarte was concerned that Valencia was godfather to a son of the then-president of the Senate, Álvaro Elizalde, and that Elizalde was godfather to a son of Valencia. That link made him noisy, and he was also concerned that Valencia was linked to the defense of the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, during her management as mayoress. It was after this episode that Ana Lya Uriarte fell ill with Covid, the same one that got complicated and takes her out of her care today.
However, in this scenario, the biggest blow he received in his administration was on March 8, when the Chamber of Deputies rejected the mother of all the battles that the Boric government had: the Tax Reform. The lack of two votes to approve this emblematic initiative brought a dark night for Ana Lya Uriarte and the Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel. In La Moneda it circulated in those days that the President was very upset and much of his annoyance had been expressed to Minister Segpres.
In this context, the health relapse of Minister Uriarte occurred and there was no shortage of those who believed that it could be a reaction to the President’s call for attention, but no, the Covid had led to a Long Covid that ended up seriously hindering the possibility of continuing to exercise the post. People close to Uriarte have pointed out that the minister had previously had respiratory problems and recall that during her work as President Michelle Bachelet’s chief of staff, she also had to be absent for a long period of time due to respiratory difficulties.
Confirmed the departure of Ana Lya Uriarte, through a statement, the Presidency of the Republic officially informed that the Head of State, Gabriel Boric, has accepted her resignation. In his replacement, in the Segpres, the President has appointed the former president of the Senate Álvaro Elizalde (PS).
“The President appreciates the management of Ana Lya Uriarte, who is going through a health situation that requires rest for an indefinite period of time,” they said from La Moneda. And they add: “The President of the Republic values her professionalism, dedication and commitment, and expresses the certainty that she will continue to be linked to the political project when she recovers.”
The current Senator Elizalde left the presidency of the Upper House on March 14, 2023. In addition, he served as Minister Secretary General of Government from March 11, 2014 to May 11, 2015, under the second government of President Michelle Bachelet. , and was president of the Socialist Party.
The name that most resonates to replace Senator Elizalde in the Senate is that of the current socialist helmsman Paulina Vodanovic.
