Agitated and intense has been the post-plebiscite political scenario. And not only because of the conversations carried out by the different sectors, but also because of the situations that have marked the leadership of the Government.
In the opposition, they have sometimes conditioned the progress of reforms in President Gabriel Boric’s program, with the dialogues for a new constituent process. And in that sector -in addition to certain official figures- they see a weakened administration following the defeat of the Approval.
“Those who claim that the government has ended are profoundly mistaken,” says Ximena Peralta, representative of Social Convergence.
President Gabriel Boric’s party has played an active role at the constitutional negotiation table, despite not having – for months – a directive to lead the internal organization.
“We have had to react through an internal reorganization that has allowed us to have a firm political leadership, but without a doubt there have been difficulties in the organic order,” says Peralta, who is currently a candidate for the party’s vice presidency.
Peralta, who participates in the enlarged political committee together with his party colleague, Deputy Diego Ibáñez, addresses the current political scenario and the future of President Boric’s party: next October 22 and 23, Social Convergence will hold internal elections.
“Moment of reflection”
-The opposition sees the Government weakened following the defeat of the Approval. Conditions have been made in the midst of the talks for a new constituent process. There are some pro-government parliamentarians who see weakness in the post-plebiscite Executive. What reading is done regarding it?
I think that the right wing is wrong when it attributes the result of the plebiscite. There were many reasons to vote rejection, and we have made the corresponding self-criticism regarding the process, its strategic communication and the political conditions in which it took place, which are not the ones we chose, but it did affect us. In particular, the caucus of the Broad Front A navigated this process as well as possible, but the self-criticism is profound. We are doing the learning process to rescue the good of the constituent process and amend those things for a new stage. In short, the right is wrong and that can cause them to hit a Guatazobecause the people’s desire for change continues and the need for a New Constitution is a priority for Chile.
For those of us who make up the wide range of government parties, the result of the plebiscite has been a blow and my impression is that our need is to demonstrate that our program is viable and is necessary in this context as well. Those who claim that the government has ended are profoundly mistaken. The explanations will have to be given to the people of Chile if they want, through that illusion, to deny the tax reform or the pension reform. There should be more humility
-Do you agree that the Government and the ruling party weakened following the Rejection won?
We are in a moment of reflection and rearticulation, but I do not see that the results of the plebiscite, which were so forceful, is the defeat of a sector. It is the people of Chile saying that they do not agree with that text and giving us a new opportunity.
single match
-Social Convergence remained the only Broad Front party in the Government Political Committee, represented by the Minister for Women Antonia Orellana. How has it been for the community to have to represent -in a space shared with Democratic Socialism- an entire coalition?
For the parties and movements that make up the Broad Front, it is very natural to work as the Broad Front. Some laugh and say “the Frente Amplio family”, and indeed we have a very natural job in common, because it comes from many years of pushing together with our ideas and proposals. The Broad Front is rising as a new political space, outside the established politics and in that sense, that experience generates a very important cohesion for us.
Our vision is that the reconfiguration of the political committee seeks that all the parties and all of us who are part of the Government are there with the same level of responsibility. In these terms, I understand the cabinet change as an opportunity to better distribute those responsibilities. The departure of the Democratic Revolution is something that that party noted as a pain for them, but for Minister Orellana, it is completely natural to work for the Frente Amplio in general as a political space in the committee. The influence of the Broad Front is not measured in the number of ministers who are part of that space, but is measured in the imprint that exists in the Government. That is fully valid, and with that we feel satisfied.
-Possibility of a single party?
It is a conversation that until now has taken place outside organic spaces. My opinion for Social Convergence is that this should be debated in the plenary session of the militancy, as a motion when it is presented, and always putting forward what the objectives of having a common party like the Broad Front would be. That depends on what key you talk to. Do we want to have a federated party? That is a conversation. Do we want to have a party with a fusion of all militancies? That’s another conversation. And that political conversation is necessarily prior to the organic conversation. What will be the consequences of that conversation before the Servel, or before the Law, can only be the consequence of a political debate.
At least, what we see today is that the FA’s challenge is to rearticulate its national table, and generate its own political space leadership. Only with that and not before that, we can talk regarding the proposal of a single party. Doing it quickly without prior reflection and political agreement can cause more problems than help.
internal elections
-October 22 and 23 are the party’s internal elections. As a candidate for the vice presidency, what are the challenges that the new board will have to face?
I participate in the Unity to Transform list. We are very hopeful in this election, because by renewing all the positions in the party structure, our key will be to make the change at the moment of Convergence’s consolidation. We hope that the party gains internal strength, recompose its spaces with titular directives, with the mandate to discuss and sanction political plans for all the basal spaces of the militancy and thus draw its roadmap in the party’s territorial policy. There is also the great challenge, which is to have as a priority the political and social construction of majorities, both in Congress and in institutional spaces, as well as in society.
The perspective we have is that in these months the cycle of change that was opened in the mobilizations of the revolt that gave way to the possibility of a new Constitution is at stake. We strongly believe that it will remain open and in this task we cannot see as contradictory, but as complementary, the generation of political majorities, perhaps the institutional one, to give support to our Government, but also the generation of social majorities. We evaluate that the right was articulating a social issue in the campaign for the plebiscite. It was generating a discontent in his favor. That is very dangerous for those of us who have the desire for structural transformation in our country. It is the right and in general the ideas that they defend, which has generated chronic indebtedness, social unrest, exclusion from the politics of the majority, and yet they intend to put themselves at the forefront of the interpretation of that unrest. That is in dispute today, and our intention is to dispute it and build that social majority for change.
-What message is delivered to the militants in view of the vote on October 22 and 23?
We want to convey that we know the contribution of each one to our party, the one we have built together, which is very valuable and essential. We need to strengthen it so that the contribution and trajectory of each one can reach the party and can be multiplied. We are building a common project that today needs to be consolidated, ordered to build that internal force that allows our political message to be projected outwards to society. This is to build social strength, keep the cycle of changes open, bet on building the articulation that is necessary for the program that we promise the country today.
-You talk regarding ordering… Was that order affected following the departure of Alondra Arellano and Francisca Perales from the board?
The last few months have been very challenging. We have assumed immense responsibilities and that for us is a pride and an honor. Indeed, people who were in the structure of our party have assumed important roles to serve the people of Chile. We have had to react through an internal reordering that has allowed us to have a firm political leadership, but without a doubt there have been difficulties in the organic order. My impression is that the political line of Convergence has remained firm, but it is time to renew our organic structure itself, and having a regular leadership will certainly help on that path.
-The list with which they compete referred to the strengthening and development of a territorial insertion in the party, pointing to these as critical and urgent elements to “dismantle neoliberalism.” What is your position?
A territorial policy means that our dreams of justice and dignity have expression in concrete, situated, palpable struggles. Not only do they have expression, but they are nourished from there, they come from there. We always speak of a territorialized party, saying that our project is a project specifically inserted in the territory and with that we refer to the geography that we inhabit with its discomforts, with different environmental or social conflicts. But they are also territorial, in the sense of confronting the feminist struggle, the dissident struggle, etc. Our policy responds to them, because that is part of the strategic project of convergence, generating associativity, weaving social collective. For us, having a territorialized policy does not simply mean having different communities, but rather that those communities have political plans, which outline objectives in those territories that intervene directly.
That differentiates us from other parties, those that have ended up being simply shells. Our party’s priority is to be a living party, inserted and vibrant in society. If not, he begins to lose his heart and that is why I think it is so important that the formation of social convergence expresses that dream of having a party, but also a social and political movement that vibrates.
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