Few people have had access to the design that the President has in mind Gabriel Boric for the second change of cabinet that he is preparing on the verge of one year of his administration. On the Second Floor of La Moneda, only a few representatives have participated in the meetings in which the President has rehearsed the movements that he intends to make -if everything continues as planned- before next March 11, the day on which he also already has a working day set with his new collaborators.
Boric, since he returned from his vacation on Monday, has had a leading role in drawing up the design and in talking directly with his ministers and government party officials. This, following the first round made by his chief of staff, Carlos Duran.
Duran -who is a member of Convergencia Social and came to office following the departure of his predecessor Matías Meza-Lopehandía regarding the crisis of pardons for those convicted of crimes committed within the framework of the social outbreak – has assumed an obvious role in the talks for the ministerial adjustment. It has been he who in the last week has received the pro-government leaders to address their concerns in the face of a rebate that -until now- It would contemplate some sectoral ministries and a “major surgery” at the level of sub-secretaries.
Durán’s role has been valued by the ruling party and contrasts with the relationship they established with Meza during the installation. They see the Social Convergence militant as closer and more receptive to the concerns that the communities have. This Wednesday, the sociologist closed the circle when meeting in the Palace with the president of the Liberal Party, Patrick Morales, who arrived at their offices following 12.00. At that appointment, the two discussed the impending set pieces.
Another of the men who has been involved in the search for names to replace those who will leave the cabinet is the head of the Second Floor, Miguel Crispi. The DR militant has been on top of the puzzle that the President is preparing and has made different proposals.
His role, however, has been the subject of warnings from the Socialist Party. From his board they have alerted La Moneda that they hope that in this past -and unlike what happened with the negotiation of the electoral lists- the head of advisors to the President does not activate parallel conversations with figures such as Camilo Escalonaof whom he is close, and refers to institutional exchanges with the president Paulina Vodanovic.
What is clear is that in the President’s team, and this has been communicated to the parties, the change of cabinet was always thought for before the first anniversary and, therefore, last-minute pressures to postpone it will have no echo in the President’s plans. In fact, so much so that in La Moneda they assure that what remains to be defined is the day of the announcement. Next week the Head of State has a busy agenda, and with the milestone of 8M, his trips to the south and north, a space must be found, say the same sources.
Although in La Moneda they do not provide a date, among the ruling parties some broadcast that the announcement is imminent: between this Friday and next Monday.
In the Palace several sources assure that the ministerial adjustment that the President is preparing would not contemplate -until now- changes in his political committee. Despite the fact that several of the secretaries of State that make up that body have assured that it is a decision that is up to Boric, the truth is that the majority have participated in conversations regarding the new design.
In the political committee they assure that the President has consulted individual opinions regarding various names. The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Toha (PPD), for example, met on Tuesday with the President and part of the Second Floor addressing the issue following meeting with the helmsman of his party, Natalia Piergentili. In that appointment, both addressed possible proposals from the community for the ministerial readjustment. A no less gesture when the relations of the PPD and the Executive were damaged following the decision of that party to compete in a second list with the PR and the DC, separating from Appruebo Dignidad and the PS and breaking -in practice- Democratic Socialism .
The Minister of the Segegob, camila vallejo (PC), who has a close relationship with the President, has also been part of the talks. In the PC some voices have suggested that it would be good to take care of her leadership and move her from the spokesperson to a ministry like the Ministry of Women, a design that -in any case- is discarded in the Palace. The minister of that portfolio, Antonia Orellana, has also talked with Boric regarding the shuffling of pieces. With Mario Marcel (Hacienda), Jeannette Jara (Work and Ana Lya Uriarte (Segpres) has done the same.
In the communities, in fact, they see their voices in the political committee as a kind of emissary to avoid excessively painful losses in their ranks. This Wednesday Vodanovic he met with UriarteMeanwhile in Social convergence They assure that the role of Durán and Orellana can have a virtuous effect, although they know that being the President’s party they might once once more pay costs. “That is the price of being the President’s party,” they say.
