“There is no counterweight to Yasna Provoste in the Christian Democrats (DC)”. With these words, Senator Matías Walker -who materialized his departure from the party last November- sought to account for the high degree of power and influence that, in his opinion, the parliamentarian possesses within the community that had her as presidential candidate in the 2021 elections. The process of that campaign could influence the consolidation of a leadership that has allowed today, and as several Falangist sources admit, Senator Provoste has no counterweight within her community.
In the midst of this debate, Senator Francisco Huenchumilla said this weekend that “it was not good to personalize political debates,” because from the 1990s onwards, in the parliamentarian’s opinion, “it was possible to name between 10 and 15 people who always had a great influence in the party, among them also the Walker family”. In this sense, Huenchumilla believes that saying that Provoste exercises a kind of “authoritarian role” in the DC is something that “does not correspond to an objective vision, because the DC has had great leaders and very influential people -some more than others- and Therefore, this type of leadership will always exist.”
Regarding the personal dispute that Senators Provoste and Rincón would face, for an important reference within the community, the struggle between the two parliamentarians “is something that comes from the last presidential campaign, when Ximena Rincón had to drop her candidacy , which coincided with the nomination of Yasna Provoste,” he said. Since then, Rincón would experience less and less underhanded antipathy for Provoste, one that intensified with the campaign for the constitutional plebiscite, which was true revenge for Rincón. “The two of them constantly tried to pass accounts and that conditioned everything. Beyond the political theses, there is a matter of personal vendettas and egos”, added sources close to the party.
In this regard, there are voices inside the store that think that Provoste “undoubtedly represents a look more to the left of the party. A line that feels more comfortable with the ideological gaze of the Government.” But this supposed “ideological closeness” of Provoste and its sector -headed by Senator Francisco Huenchumilla- with the ruling party has had to coexist with other discourses that point much more towards the center, producing constant discrepancies, with the other group made up of the board of directors. and the bench of deputies and deputies, among others.
“There was animosity between the DC senators,” said a militant, referring to the conflicts between Yasna Provoste and Ximena Rincón, the latter now on the bench of the Democratic movement. As detailed in the store, the senators have a “pending account between them and a confrontation, which at this point is a personal confrontation.” Although, from the party they made an effort not to transfer this confrontation to the bench and to the parliamentary committees in Congress, the fight between both leaders escalated to the point of contributing to trigger a strong identity and internal coexistence crisis at the end of last year, where more than 70 militants resigned from the party. Among them, historical militants such as Claudio Orrego and René Cortázar, as well as senators Matías Walker and Ximena Rincón.
But it was in November 2022, meanwhile, after the request of senators Ximena Rincón and Matías Walker to integrate the political committee of the DC, that Senator Provoste once again gave an account of her power in the party, closing the doors of the collectivity and emphasizing that “they cannot be with double waters”.
In addition, a transversal agreement signed in March 2022 in the National Congress established that Juan Antonio Coloma (UDI) assume the presidency of the Senate, and Francisco Huenchumilla himself the vice presidency since March of this year. For this, a series of agreements for the commissions was established. This happened at the beginning of 2022, while Walker and Rincón still belonged to the DC bench, something that is no longer the case, since they resigned from the party and this month decided to move to the Evópoli committee. Faced with this, the voice of Yasna Provoste recently appeared to claim that said quotas in the commissions should be assumed by militants of the DC and that the right should cede one of its quotas to Walker or Rincón. A problem that was close to putting the administrative agreement at risk.
Influences and leadership
The leadership of Provoste had as a milestone when it broke in in May 2021, in the midst of the government of Sebastián Piñera, to promote an agenda of “common minimums” that would provide assistance to the most vulnerable families in the country affected by the pandemic. A proposal that allowed the parliamentarian to lead the agenda and consolidate a political leadership at the precise moment to force a Falangist presidential primary with Paula Narváez and Carlos Maldonado, and enter the presidential race. And although Rincón was given the “consolation prize” of being the president of the Senate, from there and according to what many believe, the bond was broken.
For her part, the great triumph obtained by Senator Rincón was in the plebiscite on September 4. Provoste, meanwhile, affirmed that the overwhelming defeat of Approval, his option, in no case meant a defeat for Chilean men and women who are looking for a less unequal country and indolent to the needs of the great majorities. “It is not that we have lost, it is that we have not yet won,” said the senator from Atacama, a politician already hardened by other painful defeats, such as the constitutional accusation (the first in democracy) that removed her from the Ministry of Education during the first government of Michelle Bachelet.
Yasna Provoste’s sadness last September contrasted with the smile that Ximena Rincón displayed before the cameras. For members of various parties in favor of the DC, surely Rincón and Provoste spent more than a minute thinking about each other. And although the last battle was won by Rincón, those familiar with the Falangist internship maintain that the Maule senator was unable to enjoy the triumph of the Rejection for too long because the plan to create the Democratic Party, which was her great support, failed. personal bet.
Provoste has said that his task now is to link the DC with the needs of the citizenry, and that his goal is for the phalanx to once again be the “progressive” party that, in his opinion, Chile needs and deserves. “There are those who have walked to deepen this crisis,” said the parliamentarian in September 2022, who after the defeat of the Approval was key in the appointment of Senator Huenchumilla as constitutional delegate of the DC. Both senators maintain close political harmony in Congress and, according to what members of the Falangist dissidence admit, Provoste was able to directly influence the nomination that allowed the Araucanía parliamentarian to re-emerge in full constituent discussion.
