Chile: Security and Spokesperson ministers fall in first cabinet reshuffle of Kast’s government
I did not expect to carry out this cabinet reshuffle, it was not what I had planned for this stage, Kast said
Chilean President José Antonio Kast on Tuesday carried out the first cabinet reshuffle of his administration and removed from their posts the Security Minister, Trinidad Steinert, and the Government Spokesperson, Mara Sedini, in a reorganization that amounts to the fastest ministerial adjustment in Chile since the return to democracy in 1990. The decision comes just over two months after the inauguration of the far-right president, against a backdrop of falling presidential approval to around 40% and an increase in public disapproval to 60%.
I did not expect to carry out this cabinet reshuffle, it was not what I had planned for this stage, but, given the sense of urgency in our country and the need to respond to the demands for which we were elected, I have decided to make this adjustment, Kast said when announcing the changes. Both ministers had been criticized from the left-wing opposition and from within the ruling coalition itself, an alliance between the president’s Republican Party and traditional right-wing sectors. The Security portfolio will be taken on by the outgoing Public Works minister, Martín Arrau, while Interior Minister Claudio Alvarado will simultaneously serve as official spokesperson, concentrating two of the most strategic areas of the executive. The Transport Minister, Louis de Grange, will manage the Public Works portfolio in parallel.
The change at the Security Ministry is particularly sensitive. The fight against crime was one of the central banners of Kast’s campaign, in which he promised a firm hand against organized crime and irregular migration. Steinert, a former regional prosecutor in Tarapacá known for the convictions she secured against members of the transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua, had come under fire for her limited public communication, the lack of visible results on security, and her public admission that she lacked a structured and concrete plan. Sedini, without prior political experience and coming from a background in television and acting, faced criticism from the start of the administration for her difficulty in articulating the executive’s positions.
Analysts attribute the rapid decline in opinion polls to the combination of multimillion-dollar cuts to the public administration, the historic rise in fuel prices stemming from the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, and the absence of tangible results in public safety. Results are not immediate, there are no magic solutions, the president said. The reshuffle takes place less than two weeks before Kast delivers his first state-of-the-nation address before Congress, and only days before the Chamber of Deputies votes on whether to begin processing the tax megareform that constitutes the government’s flagship economic project and includes corporate tax cuts.