Mañalich, 90 days later: What is known (and not) about his contacts with Piñera, with Paris, his departure and his plans

Today they are exactly fulfilled ninety days since he said goodbye at 13:39 on that Saturday, June 13 saying that “I have personally come to the conviction that this new stage in the fight against coronavirus requires new leadership”, that the President “has accepted my resignation” and that “I predict, I dare say, that in the coming weeks we will to have an even greater stress, a tension on the healthcare network ”.

After that press point in which he did not accept questions, he disappeared from the scene – his last known photo was taken that day, and leads this text -, leaving many doubts about how his departure was precipitated.

In two more days the term established by article 52 of the Constitution will expire so that they can accuse him constitutionally; At the time of publishing this note, the Frente Amplio claimed to have the ten signatures necessary to start the process. The criminal investigation into the deaths from COVID-19 runs in another lane, which has him and President Sebastián Piñera with judicial defense.

Ninety days after his fall, Jaime Mañalich Muxi has kept public silence, without giving interviews (his people say he has refused about fifty requests of national, Argentine and American media) or appear in morning. He only took up his Twitter account a few days ago, which he closed shortly before leaving.

Since then, the nephrologist is a kind of mystery to many in the government. During this time there have been different and contradictory versions about how much he continues to talk to the Executive about the management of this crisis, although at one point the testimonies converge so far: Except for the Head of State and Enrique Paris, whom he himself recommended as his successor, Mañalich and La Moneda no longer have contact.

A contrast with the “tribute” that more than thirty former ministers and ministers, former colleagues of his in Pinera I, when they published a letter in The Mercury that did not achieve unanimity in that group. As far as it is known, until now the government has not given him a farewell because they said the pandemic prevented it. And the President – they maintain in his team- he did not apply in his case the habit of offering him another destination in his government.

The exact detail of how much and what Piñera and Mañalich talk about is something that only they know. Less than a month ago, the versions collected in the Palace said that they talked almost every week and that in addition to asking him about his family – the former minister’s friends emphasize that both he and Cecilia Morel are concerned about his wife María Cristina Raffo – he has also asked about specific aspects of the pandemic.

At La Moneda they cited then the preparations for the deconfinement plan. Towards the middle of July, A group of ministers witnessed how Piñera told them that he had consulted various opinions, and that Mañalich was one of the people to whom he had shown the draft of the program to find out his opinion. Made the consultations this week, in the rings closest to the President they respond that the two continue talking, although without details.

The testimonies close to the former minister say that he “continues” to speak with the president, but that they “never” have even exchanged an opinion on the pandemic. Mañalich sees almost all the public balance sheets of the Minsal (The “morning” that his successor made his debut and that made evident a media style opposed to his). But according to its people, He drew a clear boundary when he left: not to get involved in any of the same things that he came to control before without checks.

These same versions explain that the doctor promised Piñera to stay completely on the sidelinesBecause that is how it had to be if he himself had proposed Enrique Paris as his replacement two weeks before leaving. That commitment, they remember, was to give space to the current head of the Minsal.

The commitment is until October 31, the date that Mañalich was set as a “from” to speak again. He will then be available to contribute, say his people, in whatever they ask of him. One of the reasons for the deadline is that By then there could be more clarity about the 2021 university academic year. The former minister wants to take classes again (before he has done it in the universities of Chile and Development) as of March, in subjects related to health administration.

In the meantime Mañalich has given conferences and private talks by focus to groups of about twenty people at a time, for which he does not charge. Last week she did one on telemedicine, and the next ones will be on the impact of fear of the virus and the future of future vaccines. In their circle they reiterate that they wanted to have a “sabbatical”, but apart from resting he has been studying “a lot”, not only to teach again but because he knows that the constant changes about the pandemic force him to be up to date on details such as immunity and reinfections, for example.

The doctor has not left Santiago and practically does not leave his home. He’s still in quarantine mode because he and his wife are at risk.

Mañalich also made a similar commitment to Paris, of whose handling he has high opinion. He also continues talking to him, although one of the versions maintains that only occasionally and that – again – never to influence or suggest his role. The last time she called him was last Sunday, after his interview in National state from TVN,

After inquiries at the Minsal about what kind of relationship Paris has with his predecessor and his contacts, they declined to specify, arguing that they do not consider it relevant.

Ninety days later people loyal to Mañalich who he installed there continue to work in the cabinet of the minister and in the portfolio. In addition to the historically faithful Undersecretary of Healthcare Networks, Arturo Zuniga, the lawyers are still there Jorge Hübner and Jaime González, that although he arrived with Emilio Santelices in 2018, under his command he was in charge of contacting the legislative commissions of Congress. He also continues as advisor former deputy PPD Enrique Accorsi -who has been close to Senator PPD Guido Girardi- and his former chief of staff, Juan Cataldo (linked to RN). And about a dozen members of the press apparatus.

With Zúñiga he continues talking. With the Undersecretary of Public Health, Paula Daza, no.

The casualties of Mañalich Battalion They are headed by his former chief of staff Itziar Linazasoro (who the government still considers partly responsible for the former minister, when he was at his peak, managed as an independent republic), his former communications chief Ana Maria Morales and the anesthesiologist Andres Llarena, who coordinated the operations to buy and bring mechanical fans.

Almost none of them knew until Saturday, June 13, that he was leaving Minsal. Mañalich -remember in the Minsal and La Moneda- he tied almost exclusively alone with Piñera his departure. In his day it was said that he was “worn out” and there were ministers who knew a month before that he wanted to leave. But the decisive thing, reiterate today voices of the government that lived the issue in the first line, is that it had lost the almost all-embracing power that it held.

Mañalich argued then and continues to believe that the criticisms against him ended up politicizing the management of the pandemic and had focused the critical nerve on him, damaging the rest of the work. His departure took place when questions rained about the handling of the death figures, whose counting and publication had forward and backward marches that deepened that climate.

During his last weeks this led to the then commented intervention -to this day there are those who retrucate that it was “a collaboration” and “reinforcement” of him – of the Second Floor. Three advisers -Benjamín Salas, who is extremely trusted by Piñera, Ignacio Parot and Pablo Eguiguren- reviewed data on the deaths and their methodology and held meetings at the Minsal. In those days there were versions that assured that the President “I was not getting answers to everything I wanted to know”, in days when the pandemic was getting worse and there were gross communication errors.

Ninety days later, Mañalich has not spoken with the chief presidential advisers, Christian Larroulet. And with no one else from La Moneda, except the President, those close to the doctor remarked.

Nor did he have contact with the current Minister of Social Development, Karla Rubilar; They only spoke briefly very shortly after June 13. With the then Palace spokesperson had several encounters regarding whether or not to decree quarantines, despite the fact that she has said that she is fond of him and that he once saved her life. She is a health doctor and most of the crashes were due to health differences and with first-rate witnesses, starting with the President and the many assistants to the daily crisis committees that were held then.

One of those scenes occurred in the session on Tuesday, May 26, when Rubilar insisted that quarantine had to be decreed in San Antonio and Valparaíso, and that it had to be kept in Antofagasta because the numbers were on the rise. Mañalich objected, and the two became entangled in a discussion that increased in tone and volume. Of course, some authorities specify that “That’s what the crisis committees are for”, which even Piñera and his ministers discussed, but which later all were ordered in front of the cameras.

The Segegob had other drawbacks because It was not until the last month of Mañalich that the doctor’s communicational lock could be broken. Until then, neither that portfolio nor the Ministry of Communications (Secom) could coordinate or even instruct management guidelines like the rest of the portfolios; sometimes, they say, he would nod but then act on his own terms. Also is true that at its peak he had a role similar to coordinator or interministerial head of the pandemic, with power over the rest of his peers in the cabinet.

Added to that to the extreme and old trust and complicity of Piñera and Mañalich (he has always maintained that his loyalty is personal with Piñera, something different from the rest of the government and the right, and that when he took office last year he “swore and promised ”Loyalty to him), his position without counterweights was known. That is why some in the government remember that in the end he ended up losing power.

The data here is that that June 13, minutes after Piñera, Mañalich and Paris announced the change in the Matta Room of La Moneda, the outgoing minister and his team passed a nearby room. Rubilar (whom the President asked to be present that morning) arrived to say goodbye. He made the gesture of extending his arms as a sign of affection, knowing that he could not hug him, but right there – two versions say, a third denies it – Linazasoro, the head of the fallen’s cabinet, cut her off.. He argued in short sentences that no, the virus prevented it.