Santiago de Chile (EFE).- The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, announced this Friday the dismissal of five of his ministers, including the Foreign Minister, Antonia Urrejola, who will be replaced in the Foreign Ministry by Alberto van Klaveren, former Undersecretary of International Relations and former ambassador to Belgium.
Also leaving the cabinet are Juan Carlos García (Public Works), Julieta Brodsky (Culture), Alexandra Benado (Sports) and Silvia Díaz (Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation), who will be replaced by Jessica López, Jaime de Aguirre, Jaime Pizarro and Aisén Etcheverry, respectively.
“What motivates me to make these changes (…) are not political pressures or minor compensation, the purpose is to improve our response capacity and management in the face of emergencies that our country has today,” Boric said after taking the oath to the new members of his cabinet.
This is the second ministerial change that Boric has made since he took office just a year ago and it occurs two days after receiving his biggest legislative defeat, when the Chamber of Deputies rejected his promised tax reform, with which he intended to finance his social program and collect 3.6% of GDP in four years.
“We need teams with knowledge of the State, with new energy and also with the necessary experience to be able to respond to urgent demands without delay or excuses,” said the president, who insisted that “majorities” and “broaden the support base” are needed. .
Profound change in the Foreign Ministry
The rumor of a new ministerial adjustment had been sounding for weeks and was demanded by both the opposition and one of the two pro-government coalitions, Socialismo Democrático, which felt underrepresented in the face of Approve Dignity (Communist Party and Broad Front), Boric’s bloc .
The entrance of Van Klaveren supposes a reinforcement of Democratic Socialism, integrated by the traditional parties of the center left that governed Chile since the fall of the military regime (1973-1990).
Van Klaveren is a well-known name in regional diplomacy and, although he is not a member of the military, he is close to the Party for Democracy (PPD), to which the Minister of the Interior and chief of staff, Carolina Tohá, belongs.
He was Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs during the first term of Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010), former Chilean ambassador to Belgium and Chile’s agent before The Hague during the maritime dispute with Peru.
Currently, he was the director of the International Legal and Economic Relations Academic Unit of the Institute of International Studies of the University of Chile.
Urrejola, questioned
Urrejola’s management had been in the spotlight for weeks, especially after the leak on January 24 of an audio in which he angrily criticized, along with various officials from his ministry, the Argentine ambassador to Chile, Rafael Bielsa.
Former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and with no political affiliation, Urrejola is credited with Boric’s harsh condemnation in international forums against the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan regimes, a position that has set him apart from other progressive leaders in the region.
The change in the Foreign Ministry is profound and also affects the two undersecretaries: Ximena Fuentes (Foreign Relations) and José Miguel Ahumada (International Economic Relations), harshly criticized for questioning Chilean foreign trade policy, especially the signing of the Comprehensive Treaty and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as TPP-11.
In addition to Fuentes and Ahumada, they also removed 13 other undersecretaries of state.
Boric made his first ministerial adjustment after the constitutional plebiscite on September 4, when he lost the option of the Government and more than 62% of Chileans rejected the proposal for a new magna carta.