As usual, at the beginning of the extended political committee with the official parties, the head of the Interior, Izkia Siches -and these days, vice president- took the floor: she admitted that It hadn’t been a good week.
And it is that in part, Siches herself had raised tensions with Parliament days ago when, in the midst of processing the state of emergency in the South Macrozone, and while emphasizing that the problem in La Araucanía did not start with the Boric administration, pointed out that “in the last four years, and I want to emphasize this, because it seems that some of them forgot, they hit their heads or it really seems that everything started from scratchbut there were four years from where we reached 1,700 out of 400 violent events.
With the start of a new week, it seemed that the government’s “unforced error” counter was reset to zero. That, until Tuesday night, when in an interview for Twitchthe minister of the Segpres, Giorgio Jackson stated that “our scale of values and principles regarding politics is not only far from the previous government, but also facing a generation that preceded us that might be identified with the same range of the political spectrum, such as the center left and the left, I think we are approaching the issues with less euphemism and more frankly”.
The story is already known: the Secretary of State reopened a generational struggle with the former Concertación and had to apologize in Congress the next day, following an avalanche of criticism from parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, but mainly from those who inhabit Socialism Democratic, a government coalition where former concertacionist collectives (PS, PPD, PR) coexist.
This Monday, yes. the same sources indicate that following the introduction of Izkia Siches, Jackson took the floor. And it was the first time -since the scandal- that he saw himself face to face with all the helmsmen: he stressed that his statements were unfortunate and looked to where the party leaders of said coalition were located: he reiterated that in no sense his statements were part of a well-thought-out “design”.
After his speech, there was consensus on something that has already been reiterated in other evaluations of the political week: stop making mistakes, and even more so 26 days before the plebiscite on September 4. Already with the episode Jackson closed, there was no disposition in the meeting to discuss the agreement that these days is being forged in the official parties to agree on modifications, reforms or implementing laws for the new Fundamental Charter (if it is approved).
And it is that more than a disposition, there was also a coincidence that this was not the space because the conversation is rooted in the leadership of the parties.
In addition, and as a result of the Jackson episode itself, the confidence of the enlarged political committee continues to suffer. This, because the same day of the scandal, to, Third published a message sent by Siches to the chat shared by those who attend the Monday meetings. “We are in the eye of the hurricane, they will look for anything to make us fight,” said the chief of staff, asking not to comment on the subject.
There, according to those who attended the meeting at the Palace, the Minister for Women, Antonia Orellana, He once more emphasized the flank of the leaks, emphasizing that they harm political spaces like that. The president of the PL, Patricio Morales, agreed that La Moneda was not the space to discuss the eventual agreement between the parties, although he remarked that it is naive to think that there will not be other such episodes during the government.
In any case, the government spokesperson minister, Camila Vallejotook the opportunity to specify a point during the meeting: that the head of Segpres – who, on Monday of last week, had assumed a role as coordinator for the proposals of the ruling party in the framework of a possible agreement, which, following the controversy , was questioned by the President himself Gabriel Boric-, will receive all the modification initiatives, whether from the ruling party or the opposition.
The clarification of the Secretary of State occurred following the request of DC officials in the Comptroller’s Office, who asked that the agency pronounce itself on the role that Jackson was assuming in these negotiations, arguing that he would be favoring the Approval.
“One thing is the responsibilities that Segpres has as a ministry that processes laws and constitutional reforms, that is by law its mandate, and that is receiving all the proposals that they want to send from the ruling party or from the opposition (…). The conversations that lead to agreements and that corresponds to the parties”, Vallejo said, later, in his traditional Monday spokesperson.