© MARIO TELLEZ
06/14/2018 VISIT TO THE CHUQUICAMATA UNDERGROUND MINE, CODELCO CHILE Photo: Mario Téllez / The Third NATIONAL COPPER CORPORATION – SITE – MINERS – SUPERVISORS – VIEW – FACILITIES – MINING – CALAMA – ANTOFAGASTA REGION
In recent weeks there have been at least four executives who have left their positions at the helm of public companies. The president of Codelco, Juan Benavides, left, who resigned on March 10, one day before the current government of Gabriel Boric took office. He was followed by the head of BancoEstado, Ricardo de Tezanos, who left his post on March 17; then the president of Enap, Fernando Massú, would continue, and finally the position held by the leadership of the System of Public Companies (SEP), Loreto Seguel, last Wednesday. As of Friday, there were four vacant positions. That day, the government named lawyer Paulina Soriano to replace Seguel as head of the SEP. There are now three slots left for the current administration to fill; a vacuum that, for the most part, the previous government of Sebastián Piñera did not suffer.
The former head of Codelco Óscar Landerretche continued to lead the state company when Piñera came to power in 2018. The official term of the head of the mining company ended in May of that year, as did that of Benavides, which ended in May of this year. But Landerretche completed his official period and left on the 11th of the month that corresponded to him. There was a slight vacancy lapse of 14 days: Benavides took office on May 25, 2018. Now, the current government has next Thursday as a peremptory deadline; Codelco’s board of directors is set for that day and if there is no president yet, the table will not be able to meet. By law, the minimum quorum is seven of the nine members. Today there are only six. There are three pending quotas: that of the head of the board of directors, and the two that correspond to the workers.
In BancoEstado, the exit and entry into the previous government overlapped. On March 16, Enrique Marshall left and that same day the appointment of former Banco de Chile Arturo Tagle was announced.
At Enap, the resignations took place at the end of March. And shortly after, on April 3, Loreto Silva assumed the presidency of the company.