President of Chile, gabriel boricannounced this Saturday the resignation of the Minister of Justice, Marcela RiosOnly a week after the controversy sparked by the presidential amnesty for 12 people convicted of social uprisings in 2019 and a former member of the radical armed group Patriotic Front. manual rodriguez (FPMR), who fought against dictatorship.
He also confirmed dismissal of chief of staff and chief adviser, Matías Meza-LopehandiaA lawyer specializing in human rights and indigenous peoples, who has accompanied the President since his election campaign in the second major government crisis he has faced since he took office in March 2021.
Both Ríos and Meza-Lopehandía hail from Social Convergence, part of the Broad Front, a coalition of left-wing formations that describe itself as “feminist, socialist and libertarian” and support the president.
In a brief statement, the president argued that Ríos’ resignation, which was already speculated by Friday afternoon, “was due to confusion in implementing my decision. forgive and also taking into account the need to strengthen the political leadership of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights”.
“When situations with these characteristics arise in politics, we must take responsibility“, decided by President Palacio de La Moneda, who met with Ríos himself and Interior Minister Carolina Tohá at the same place on Friday, again criticizing the administration of the amnesties.
The lawyer who replaces Ríos will take over the management of the ministry “Luis Cordero Vega, who will join the government team For the next few days, he’s been out of the country ever since”.
opposition pressures
The Boric government’s second major crisis in just ten months broke out on Friday, after an amnesty for 13 people, including the former guerrilla, was announced on 30 December. Jorge Matelunaand grew over the week after the résumé of one arrested for riots, five convictions for minor crimes, and one of 26 cases was made public.
Mateluna sentenced to prison for him participation in a robbery at a bank branch After being convicted in a trial full of irregularities and marked by his insistence that the accused had been mistaken for someone else.
As soon as the news broke, the ultra-conservative Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party, founded during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990), sharply criticized the president and announced the abandonment of the cross-security desk he led. The government is trying to find a solution to the problem that most concerns Chileans.
An attempt was made under the leadership of the Minister of the Interior, who entered the government in September. the first major crisis representing a more temperate wing of a socialist nature.
The conservative opposition party Renovación Nacional (RN) has put pressure on the government throughout the week, threatening pardons to the minister and a constitutional impeachment for mistakes made in announcing them.
In the first correspondence, it was announced that 11 people were forgiven. ten prisoners of the epidemic and pro-front.
But after minutes of confusion and tension between La Moneda and Justicia, and the opposition already armed, the statement was corrected and thirteen people were confirmed to have been pardoned, including protester Luis Castillo, who had five convictions.
The UDI, for its part, has announced that it plans to file a constitutional charge against Boric and continues to consider it despite Ríos’ resignation.
Second government crisis
Boric’s first government crisis, rejection of the constitutional amendment in the referendum Held on September 4, then two of his closest collaborators, Izkia Siches, Minister of the Interior, and Giorgio Jackson, who had relations with the Government and Congress, fell.
Also, the box a more moderate left turncreating the first cracks in the government blending.
A trend towards dialogue that now seems more dominant.
“I urge all political forces to approve the appointment of a national prosecutor who guarantees institutionalization to prosecute and combat victims, so that we can focus on the urgent needs of our people and quickly enact the package of economic measures we presented yesterday.” Boric concluded today by “offending with the full force of the law to move forward with a pension reform that has already waited too long”.