Change in Chile. The elected president, Gabriel Boric, unveiled his government on Friday, January 21, marked by a strong political plurality, with the appointment of a representative of the moderate left in Finance and a majority of women. The new government, which will take office on March 11, has 24 ministers, including 14 women and a third of independents. His average age is 49 years old. “We must dialogue and listen a lot. Listen twice as much as you speak”, launched the Head of State to the future government.
Eagerly awaited by the markets, the Finance portfolio goes to Mario Marcel, the president of the Central Bank, without a label but linked to the Socialist Party. Mario Marcel, 62, had already held several positions in various centre-left governments. He was the favorite of the markets, who see in this choice a gesture of moderation in the program of economic reforms that the young president wishes to implement, who has promised the establishment of a welfare state in Chile.
In addition to Marcel, the new head of state has appointed other members of the centre-left, beyond his initial coalition which notably includes the Communist Party and only has 24% of the seats in the National Assembly. “It’s about consolidating a parliamentary coalition that supports the president”, told AFP Marcelo Mella, professor of political science at the University of Santiago.
Izkia Siches, the first woman to head the Order of Physicians in 2017, has been appointed Minister of the Interior. Aged 35, like Gabriel Boric, this surgeon actively participated in the management of the pandemic. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs goes to Antonia Urrejola, a 53-year-old lawyer who chaired the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Another woman is appointed to Defense: Maya Fernandez, a granddaughter of the former socialist president Salvador Allende (1970-1973) overthrown by General Augusto Pinochet’s coup.
The Ministry of the Environment goes to climatologist Maisa Rojas, one of the authors of the latest report from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). The youngest minister is Antonia Orellana, 32, in charge of the women’s ministry.
Two former student leaders and deputies, Giorgio Jackson and Camila Vallejo, who led high school protests in 2011 alongside Gabriel Boric to demand a “public, free and quality education”, are respectively appointed secretary general of the presidency and government spokesperson. Both will be part of the Political Committee, a cabinet made up of the president’s closest aides. Also taking part will be Izkia Siches, who took the lead in candidate Boric’s campaign for the second round of the presidential election, and Mario Marcel.