The delay of more than an hour began to worry the party leaders who, from different places, were following the minutes before the cabinet change in La Moneda quoted at noon. One of the few that was in the Palace was the PS leader, Paulina Vodanovic. Later, and towards the end of the ceremony, the head of the PPD, Natalia Piergentili, arrived.
Although since Monday night the cadre that reinforced -mainly- the political committee with Carolina Tohá (PPD) in the Interior and with Manuel Monsalve (PS) in the General Secretariat of the Presidency (Segpres) was confirmed, It was not exactly the expected reshuffling among the socialists. In fact, party sources realize that the undersecretary preferred to remain in his position in the Interior.
From the PS directive, the ideal scenario -different sources confirm- was to keep (as it finally happened) Monsalve in his undersecretary’s office and appoint the lawyer Ana Lya Uriarte in Segpres. However, yesterday afternoon, and when the names of Democratic Socialism were already being considered to settle in the heart of the government, the socialist deputies defended the name of Monsalve as a link between La Moneda and Parliament.
But at the last minute, the scenario changed: the failed appointment of the PC Nicolás Cataldo in the Undersecretary of the Interior -after his controversial tweets against Carabineros- led the government to back down from the defined design, forcing the return of Monsalve at your expense. That “accidental” and last-minute definition implied a victory for the Paris 873 store and for its president Paulina Vodanovic, who managed to install Uriarte – close to the helmsman – in La Moneda, in addition to the ratification of Mario Marcel (close to the PS) in Treasury.
Among socialist deputies who promoted Monsalve’s ascent, the false step that was taken with the Undersecretary of the Interior, who finally stayed in his position, did not go down well. The reason? The name of Ana Lya Uriarte generates objections in a part of the bench, where some have quarrels with her for her behavior as a “dissident” to the previous socialist directive of Álvaro Elizalde.
The failed appointment of Nicolás Cataldo (PC) as Undersecretary of the Interior, due to pressure from the right and part of the center-left, upset the militancy of the Communist Party. In statements to CNN, congresswoman Carmen Hertz (PC) said that the criticism from the right against Cataldo was “shameful” and that it would be “doubly shameful” if the government gave in to these pressures, which finally materialized. In parallel, the PC helmsman, Guillermo Teillier, replied in the chat of political parties that it seemed to him “unusual what is happening with Nicholas Cataldo. His complaint, however, was not answered by his peers.
“Anti-communism sprouted from their bodies”, also said the leader of the bench, Boris Barrera. Later, and at the meeting of the entire political spectrum in La Moneda convened by President Boric, Teillier insisted on that point – taking advantage of the presence of the right – and reiterated that behind the demand for the removal of the undersecretary to sit at that table there was an “anti-communism”.
After the incorporation of the Minister of Labor, Jeannette Jara, to the political committee – which some read as a “compensation” to the communists – several party leaders chose to value their new role and lower the profile of the Cataldo episode. And it is that the head of Labor is one of the best evaluated ministers in the Palace and in that scheme, will join forces with the spokeswoman Camila Vallejo (PC).
However, in the militancy there was a bitter taste with the government of uncertain projection because an opposition veto was allowed to pass to an undersecretary of its rankswhich also -they read on the PC- managed to impose a kind of psychological barrier to the party’s option to assume certain government positions.
Within Approve Dignidad, the Broad Front cannot say the same about its presence in the political committee after the transfer of Giorgio Jackson to Social Development, a ministry that – until now – is outside the heart of the government. Of those ranks, only the Minister for Women, Antonia Orellana, remains in that instance.
In Valparaíso, the deputies of the coalition made a press point after the cabinet change, where the serious faces and downcast attitude was evident. And although none criticized the arrival of figures linked to the old Coalition -such as Uriarte and the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá (PPD)-, they reinforced their call to comply with the government program.
In interview with Thirdthe helmsman RD, Juan Ignacio Latorre, it did not close the door to Jackson later rejoining that scheme. “Obviously I would have liked Giorgio Jackson to remain on the political committee, I told the President that, but hey, he will have his reasons and that may change (…). Tomorrow that may change and Giorgio Jackson could eventually enter.
In the PPD there is awareness that the arrival of Tohá it is not a gesture towards the party, but rather a demonstration of the trust that Boric places in her in particular. “The President is fascinated by some people and Tohá is one of them,” they say in the store. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, when the change of cabinet was already unavoidable, the President personally came to Tohá’s department in downtown Santiago, in order to take the first steps to reconfigure his original ministerial design.
In Congress, meanwhile, they were the political group most satisfied with the adjustment. Senators Jaime Quintana and Ricardo Lagos Weber highlighted the trajectory of the new ministers Tohá and Uriarte.
Nevertheless, Within the ruling party -particularly in the PC and in I Approve Dignity- the former mayor also raises some objections. Some of its members privately question the judgment of accounts that is pending in the Comptroller’s Office and the contributions that the PPD received from SQM when she was the helmsman of the community.
and during the day Some old tweets by President Boric criticizing Tohá went viral. “Destruction of the INBA (Barros Arana National Boarding School) is unacceptable. Unacceptable is also Carolina Tohá’s opportunism in trying to blame the entire student movement,” says one of them, published in 2016.
In the case of the Radical Party (PR), if a sensation reigned during the morning, it was nervousness. Earlier in the day, information began to circulate suggesting that its only minister, Marcela Hernando (Mining), could leave office. During the morning he had public activities, like Begoña Yarza, who was removed.
If that happened, the PR would be without representation in the government, since it does not have sub-secretaries either. For the same, within the directive they felt a great relief when Monsalve finished reading the list of names of the ministers who would leave office and did not name Hernando.
In any case, since Monday the party was already considering the alternative of raising the name of the former Minister of Defense José Antonio Gómez (PR) in case someone else from the ruling party was needed.