Chilean Constitutional Updates (Jan 26, 2022)
Chilean Constitutional Convention commissions are piecing together proposals -- sometimes wildly divergent ones -- on how the government should be structured under a new magna carta, though there appears to be broad support for watering down the current "hyperpresidencialist" system. While the Frente Amplio's bid for a parliamentary democracy garnered little support, other options include strengthening the role of the vice president or creating a government ministry, who would lead efforts to create legislative coalitions. (LaBot Constituyente)
Several delegates presented a measure that would create a Universal Basic Income, a move that seems to have transversal support, reports El Mostrador.
This week the Environment and Economic Model Commission approved a norm that would annul mining and exploration permits granted without proper consultation with Indigenous communities on affected lands. The measure would also require the Chilean government to create a commission aimed at registering and returning "lands, waters, historic Indigenous territories and sacred spaces" to their original Indigenous communities. (CNN Chile)
The Convention will also initiate a process of consultation with Indigenous groups, within their own territories, reports El Mostrador.
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Chilean president-elect Gabriel Boric announced his cabinet picks last week -- it will be the country's first female-dominated cabinet, with 14 women heading ministries, out of 24. Prominent names include Izkia Siches in the Ministry of Interior, and Camila Vallejo in the Ministerio Secretaría General de Gobierno. (Cooperativa)
Boric's cabinet announcement last week reflects both generational change and continuity with Chile's leftist history. A picture of the new Defense Minister Maya Fernández cradled as a baby by her grandfather, Salvador Allende -- - she will be in charge of the armed forces that led the 1973 coup that killed Allende -- symbolized for many in Chile and the region the hope sparked by the incoming government. (See Friday's Latin America Daily Briefing post.)
Boric named several former student protest leaders to the new cabinet, which includes at least six ministers under the age of 40 and has a majority of women. But Boric also reassured markets by naming Central Bank chief Mario Marcel as finance minister. (Associated Press, Reuters)
"Boric’s choices for the most part reflect the desire to implement change that is real, profound, but also pragmatic and technical. There is little sign of political idealism or ideology in this cabinet," writes Robert Funk, also in Americas Quarterly.
Chilean author Isabel Allende heralded the young and female-dominated incoming cabinet, and said it marked a much-needed change of the guard, reports Reuters.