Chilean President Gabriel Boric changed five ministers in his cabinet on Friday, including the head of Foreign Relations, as well as several undersecretaries in an effort by the leftist president to give new impetus to his administration. at the beginning of his second year of government.
The president appointed former Vice Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren to replace Antonia Urrejola, who was involved in several controversies throughout her period at the head of the Foreign Ministry and was one of the worst evaluated ministers.
Van Klaveren, an academic and former ambassador, also led the Chilean team before the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2008 in the lawsuit filed by Peru for a maritime boundary.
The leftist president, who on Saturday celebrates his first year at the helm of the largest global copper producer, also appointed Jessica López in the Public Works portfolio, Jaime de Aguirre in Culture, former national soccer team Jaime Pizarro in Sports and Aisén Etcheverry in Sciences.
In Chile there are 24 ministries. Boric also changed 15 undersecretaries, including those of Finance, International Economic Relations and Defense.
“What motivates me to make these changes (…), despite all that has been speculated in recent weeks, are not political pressures or minor compensation. The purpose is to improve our response capacity and improve management before the urgencies that our country and our citizens have today,” Boric said during a ceremony.
“We have had difficulties, who could deny it,” said the president when swearing in his new team, emphasizing that “it is no longer time for diagnosis, it is time for action.”
Among the problems mentioned by the president were the recent forest fires that devastated thousands of hectares in the center-south of the country, the crime figures at a time when the country is facing an increase in violent crime, and inflation, which is at the lowest figures. highs in three decades amid a slowdown in the economy.
This week, in addition, the government suffered a severe political blow when the Chamber of Deputies refused to process its tax reform project, key to fulfilling its campaign promises. The government has not yet defined what steps it will follow to insist on its proposal.
“The general tone of everything that has happened with the government is a gradual and forced moderation. Boric has been moving towards the center, towards moderation, social democracy, leaving behind that re-founding spirit that he had when he took office,” he said. to Reuters political analyst Kenneth Bunker.
The changes announced on Friday, however, are more focused on solving sectoral shortcomings and could be insufficient to address “the main problem of the government, which is political and strategic,” he added.
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