For his first day in office, the new president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, innovated by participating in a ceremony with the indigenous peoples at the presidential palace, before going to a traditional mass in the cathedral of Santiago.
Sitting in the center of a circle for the ceremony in a courtyard of the presidential palace of La Moneda, in Santiago, Mr. Boric and the first lady, Irina Karamanos, received one by one the grievances and wishes of the seven indigenous peoples of Chile: Yagan, Lican Antai, Mapuche Pewenche, Rapa Nui, Mapuche Lafkenche, Diaguita and Mapuche Füta Warria.
“Generating intercultural work and a new relationship between government and indigenous peoples is vital for building a just and dignified Chile,” Boric posted on his Twitter account, along with photos from the ceremony.
The presidency explained in a statement that “the various indigenous peoples, through sages, representatives and ancestral authorities, address and deliver greetings, messages, prayers and wishes through words and / or symbolic elements, to the president as a vehicle for a new beginning”.
“The multicultural ceremony is part of a new conception of the territory as plurinational where respect, dialogue and participation will be highlighted”, it is added.
Friday during his swearing in, Mr. Boric, unlike all his predecessors, had mentioned the indigenous peoples by swearing to respect the Constitution “in front of the Chilean people” but adding “all the Chilean peoples”.
The 36-year-old president then went to Santiago Cathedral with members of his 42-year-old average government, made up of 14 women and 10 men, to attend a Catholic ceremony of “prayer for Chile “.
Also on this first day of the Boric mandate, the Minister of Transport Juan Carlos Muñoz and the Minister of the Environment Maisa Rojas distinguished themselves by going to the presidential palace, in the center of Santiago, by public transport, he by bus and she by bike and metro.