What should have been a quiet and calm appointment of undersecretaries for the incoming government of Gabriel Boric, considering that an hour later Chile was playing against Bolivia, was not such, due to criticism arising from the 39 names mentioned. And not criticism from the future right-wing opposition, but from the left sector itself, more precisely the former New Majority. This, because they accuse that an attempt was made to benefit the parties that make up Approve Dignidad, since the latter had slipped criticism for their lack of representation in the cabinet.
One of the first to question the appointment of undersecretaries was the deputy and head of the PPD caucus, Raúl Soto: “It seems to me that the cast of undersecretaries is not well balanced from the point of view of the political forces that have joined the government.”
What Soto refers to is that the two parties that obtained the most sub-secretaries were Democratic Revolution with 8, and 6 for Social Convergence and the Communist Party. On the other hand, the PPD was only left with 2.
“Apparently more was sought to compensate for the discontent of Approve Dignity parties, particularly the Broad Front and the Communist Party, but we believe that the Progressive Convergence forces are underrepresented there and therefore we manifest a substantive difference there,” he added.
Despite the criticism, Soto closed by saying that “we want this government to do very well and for the new undersecretaries and ministers, by the way.”
Another of those who criticized the names chosen by Boric was Deputy Alexis Sepúlveda (Radical)since although they have a minister -Marcela Hernando in Mining- they did not obtain any sub-secretary, for which he said that it is “a step backwards”.
“We regret that President Boric has succumbed to the pressure exerted by the Approve Dignity parties,” he said.
Likewise, he indicated that “there was a good sign at the beginning, of expanding the political framework of support for the government, but today we have regressed.”
Despite indicating that “we regret this decision”, Sepúlveda emphasized that “we certainly respect what the government has determined”, but that “this makes us reflect on the role that we will eventually have as a party in the future government of President Gabriel Boric” .
“The Concertation died”
The political vice president of the Social Green Regionalist Federation (FRVS), Flavia Torrealba responded to these criticisms, assuring that regrets “the statements of some representatives of the Concertación, especially considering that they came fifth overall in the last election, and President Boric is the president whom the people of Chile chose to carry out the destiny of Chile in the coming years Considering also that they have six ministers, I do not understand the logic of the claim.”
“What corresponds now is to get to work for the good of Chile, not to continue with this quota of the parties and demanding spaces of power in a logic that has already died. The Concertación is dead. This is another Chile,” he added.
“We are calling all the political forces that want to come and work to build this new project and a tremendous challenge to transform it into a fair, dignified and supportive country. So I hope that they continue to claim us through the press, and that we applaud in together the cabinet and the political team that President Boric set up and that is going to have a tremendous responsibility in the next few years,” he concluded.
