A series of reactions generated the declarations of the mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti (RD), who summoned the President Gabriel Boric for the sanitation project at Las Salinas beach. The communal chief, over the weekend, called for the Committee of Ministers to resolve “in less than 72 hours” the project and warned that if it is not rejected, the head of state “I would lose his confidence”.
Following Ripamonti’s ultimatum, this morning the Minister of Social Development, Giorgio Jackson revealed that he contacted the mayor of Viña del Mar.
“We as a party, as a Democratic Revolution, today it is my turn to be Minister of State, therefore that is my main task beyond the fact that I am certainly a member of a political party, but we have talked with the mayor”, said the Secretary of State.
In detail, he commented that “We have let you know that for this government, by the way, the priority will always be dialogue, participation and care for the environment.” and affirmed that “it is along these lines that the ministers who make up the Committee of Ministers are going to act”.
The Minister of Social Development was also consulted regarding the tone used in Ripamonti’s summons to President Boric, and if there is any specific call among the party’s leadership, regarding that.
“I am not the one who has to make a call in those characteristics, I know that within the party of course there are conversations along these lines. We are an official party, we are a party that has promoted the option of this government and we are going to be firm with the President in the definitions”, said Jackson.
“Democratic Revolution is an official party, a party that is committed to the success of this government and will continue to do so until the last day”, he emphasized.
Likewise, he ruled out that the ultimatum of the mayor of Viña del Mar was related to an existing discomfort in the DR, following the removal of Miguel Crispi (RD) as undersecretary of Social Development and the nomination of Nicholas Cataldo (PC) in that work.
“I rule it out completely, I discussed exactly that with the mayor and I rule it out. It has nothing to do with one thing and the other,” said the Secretary of State.
“I spoke with her, (…) He made it clear to me that one thing had nothing to do with another.but it had to do mainly with the concern of environmental issues and participation, “insisted Jackson.
But the Minister of Social Development is not the only government official who has referred to the site.
Earlier, in dialogue with Tele13 Radio, the head of the Interior, Carolina Toha assured that “having a coalition in a government where there are many of its leaders who are figures who come from a history of working with the social movement, who have been in different struggles and causes, who have links with citizen organizations, is a strength ”.
However, he stated that “We must not lose sight of the fact that when one comes to govern, one governs for the entire country, and not each one for the group from which they come or the organization with which they are most in tune.”.
“Here we are governing for Chileans and Chileans, and if we are in this coalition we are behind the government of President Boricthen the differences that we have, we must find a way to handle them that does not generate confusion in the population”, pointed out the chief of staff.
“Regarding the tone with which it was acted, I think it’s not the tone and I think we have to install a different way to resolve the differences”, he added.
In this line, he assured that “here in the government in that sense we are not going to lose, we listen to all the voices, but it is not that the one who occupies the hardest tone is going to have the most choicethe one with the best reasons will have the most choice and from the dialogue that we have on the paths that we find, and that is how the Committee of Ministers is going to act regarding the project in question”.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning the minister of the General Secretariat of Government (Segegob), Camila Vallejo He pointed out that “we promote and are on the side of dialogue and conversation, and the protection of the environment.”
In addition, he added that “the institutions have to work in this matter. There is a Committee of Ministers that are determined to resolve these issues, but I repeat: the commitment of this government with the environment is not in doubt”.
Finally, Vallejo mentioned that “What will most strengthen our institutions and our actions is dialogue, and we will always be promoting that with all the authorities and with the citizenry”.
