Santiago de Chile, Aug 16 (EFE).- The Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, made a limited modification of his cabinet of ministers this Wednesday, a nod to the opposition with which he shielded his hard core and from which he saved the Ministry of Housing, pointed out for weeks by a scandal of alleged irregularities with private foundations known as the “Agreement Case”.
Boric replaced the former Minister of Education, Marco Antonio Ávila, one of those expected on the list, he narrowly avoided the start of a political trial and has teachers on the verge of an indefinite strike. In his place he appointed Nicolás Cataldo, until now Undersecretary of Regional and Administrative Development and one of the strong names of the Communist Party, who for the first time in its history will be in charge of this ministry, one of the ones with the largest budget.
“It is a responsibility that I assume with the greatest of urgency because we are going through a complex scenario: the reactivation and recovery of learning is part of the main agenda of our Government,” said Cataldo.
The new Minister of Culture, the independent actress Carolina Arredondo, was one of the most surprising appointments because she takes office less than a month before the 50th anniversary of the military coup against Salvador Allende, a commemoration that depends on her portfolio. The former owner, Jaime de Aguirre, appointed just six months ago, was in the spotlight after rejecting Chile as the guest of honor at the 2025 edition of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the most important in the sector worldwide. .
“There is an attempt to regain control of the agenda in two ministries that have given Boric headaches: Education and Culture,” Rodrigo Pérez de Arce, a political scientist from the Institute for Society Studies, told EFE.
In addition, he also replaced the former Minister of Mining, Marcela Hernando, with Aurora Williams, who was a former minister of this portfolio in the second government of former President Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018), and placed the journalist and former deputy Marcela Sandoval, replacing Javiera Toro, who will replace the recently dismissed Giorgio Jackson, the president’s right-hand man, in Social Development.
The resignation on Friday of Jackson, pointed out for being a founder and one of the main leaders of the Democratic Revolution (DR), the main party that has been implicated in the alleged irregularities in the transfer of public funds to private foundations, was not “sufficient “for the opposition, which kept up the pressure for the president to carry out a deep surgery on his Executive.
THE MINISTER OF HOUSING IS SAVED
The controversy cost the DR a ministry, so it was left in charge of a single portfolio -National Assets-, of little relevance, despite being one of the most important forces of the Broad Front, Boric’s coalition: “Obviously, for us it is a reduction with respect to the position we had, but our loyalty to the Government does not depend on the relative position in the cabinet,” said the president of the party, Juan Ignacio Latorre.
“This cabinet change was intended to remove the DR from the front line of government, it is the one who loses out due to the media exposure that the party has had and the damage it has generated as a brand, negatively taxing the prestige of the Executive,” he told EFE. Rodrigo Espinoza, a political scientist from the Diego Portales University.
Against all the expectations of the opposition, Boric decided to keep the Minister of Housing, Carlos Montes, one of the historical figures of the Socialist Party, which has managed to keep its four ministries intact. Although the “Agreements Case” was uncovered by a case that concerns his portfolio and the right pressed for his resignation, Boric has decided to keep him in office.
Another of the forces that emerged strengthened from the ministerial adjustments was the Communist Party (PC), which added one more minister to the cabinet, with a total of three (the same as Social Convergence, where the president is a member): “The PC ended up being favored with a portfolio that he had asked for when the government won the elections,” added Espinoza.
Unlike the previous ministerial change, in which the council of ministers lost several women and went from being made up of 14 ministers and 10 ministers to being left with 13 ministers and 11 ministers, with this third modification women recover the majority, there will be 13 and 11 men.
UNLOCK NEGOTIATIONS
Despite pressure from the right for Boric to intervene in his cabinet, his moves have not left the opposition happy, which considers them shallow and “cosmetic.”
“They change names, but there are no leadership changes,” criticized the senator and president of National Renewal Francisco Chahuán. His counterpart from the conservative Unión Demócrata Independiente, Javier Macaya, joined the questions and pointed out that “it’s more of the same, to get out of the problems and not a change of direction to face them.”
For tomorrow, Boric himself has called a meeting with the right-wing coalition to resume negotiations on the main reforms of the Government -the tax and pensions- until now blocked by the opposition due to Jackson’s permanence in the Government, but there is no certainties that the adjustments will allow tensions to be released and progress in the agreements.
“I would have liked this cabinet change to take place in a different political climate, without that tension that has been so prominent in recent days,” Boric said during his cabinet change speech.
The president called for “respectfully facing differences and finding common ground” with an eye on the long negotiation that lies ahead, now with new members on his team. EFE
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