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The discussion began to escalate and President Sebastián Piñera was upset. The President had not liked him, and so he made known to the Minister of the Interior, Víctor Pérez, until Tuesday, the arguments raised by the lawyers who represented him before the constitutional accusation, the seventh one that the center-left drives against authorities of this administration.
The scene occurred on October 23. And Piñera criticized Pérez for claiming in the answering brief that, under a state of catastrophe, the Carabineros does not depend on the Interior, but rather on Defense. So far the story is known. However, on that same occasion, in the middle of the heated discussion, Pérez expressed his intention to resign. Piñera said no.
That was the first time that the former UDI senator conveyed his intentions to leave the chief of staff. Even before that, from his surroundings, the political committee and different advisers said that he was not going to resign, that his personality was combative and that He had “no other political aspirations” and was therefore willing to bear the cost of being removed from office.
But since the impasse with the defense, although in La Moneda they insisted that the ex-legislator was going to stay until the end, the possibility of taking a step aside began to be an alternative that Pérez raised with Piñera. And he did it on more than one occasion. That was discussed with his inner circle and with UDI leaders, including Senator Claudio Alvarado, This decision was finally made on Tuesday in a surprising way for a majority in the government and also for the opposition.
The issue began to be considered seriously, they say in the Palace, especially since the possibilities of avoiding the accusation in the Chamber began to become unviable. In fact, the forecasts came true and on Tuesday it was approved with 80 votes in favor, 74 against and one abstention.
But beyond that, the President insisted that Pérez did not have to step aside for several reasons, among them, because it would be a sign of capitulation and because It would imply “giving” the opposition the incentive that for the next one they would only need to advance in the Chamber to overthrow another minister.
Likewise, in the last hours Pérez had conveyed to his cabinet peers that he would not step aside. He also said it in a meeting on Monday with the heads of the Chile Vamos bancada. “I’m going to go to the end,” he said at the time, according to several of those present.
On Tuesday morning, in addition, the now former chief of the cabinet had a meeting with the political committee, the chancellor and the head of Defense, instance in which they gave him their support and he did not mention a word about a possible resignation. In La Moneda they insisted that although the option of a resignation was on the table, Pérez had said that he would not do it. Nine hours later the scene changed. “I have just spoken with President Sebastián Piñera and I sent him my resignation from the post of Minister of the Interior, since I am not willing that, through me, the government be harmed”said Pérez, after 4:00 p.m., at the headquarters of the Congress in Valparaíso, to announce his departure. And I add: “I am going to go to the Senate as a citizen without the President having obstacles in all that is that concurrence. For me it is impossible to accept that the President is six, seven or eight days without the Minister of the Interior ”.
Prior to his statements, in the Segpres room in Congress and after the vote on the indictment, Pérez called Piñera by phone. In that dialogue, which lasted for a few minutes, The now former minister insisted to the President that the best thing was to step aside and that he resigned permanently, an approach that he had already made on Monday, but that the head of state had reiterated that it was not convenient. This time, Piñera – who, according to the Palace, was surprised by the moment of resignation – agreed.
Pérez’s departure took most of the cabinet by surprise. He spent only 98 days as Minister of the Interior, being the third chief of staff in this administration and forcing Piñera to begin the search for his replacement. In fact, The Head of State, not having a clear design, had to appoint Undersecretary Juan Francisco Galli as the interim head of the Interior.
Among the names that sound for Pérez’s replacement is the current Minister of Energy, Juan Carlos Jobet, who has been in the portfolio on several occasions; his pair of Public Works, Alfredo Moreno, and the head of the Segegob, Jaime Bellolio; in addition to the mayor of Estación Central, Rodrigo Delgado. Anyway, in Palacio they said that Piñera was not upset. In fact, He received Pérez at La Moneda on Tuesday and dedicated a few words of thanks to him.
From the UDI they transmit privately that the replacement should be someone UDI, except – they add – that Piñera seeks to make a broader change in the cabinet. Precisely, the Head of State and the Executive now open a complex scenario both to define the new head of the Interior -a subject that in previous appointments has brought him more than one difficulty- to see how to continue this government. In fact, the President has also contemplated an adjustment of undersecretaries in the coming days, thinking about the departure of those who seek to be parliamentary or constituent candidates.
That and other topics would be part of a Camaraderie appointment that Piñera had scheduled last night, at his home, with former ministers Gonzalo Blumel and Andrés Chadwick, a meeting that Pérez and Bellolio would also attend.
At a meeting held Monday night by the nine UDI senators, including President Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, Alvarado opened the debate and raised the option that Pérez, if the accusation was approved in the Chamber, would step aside.
Each parliamentarian gave their opinion and the feeling was that if there was an option that -under this scenario- the libel was not approved in the Senate, the best thing would be for Pérez to leave office and not sacrifice his “political career.” This, since there were conversations directed with opposition senators, who, according to those familiar with the dialogues, opened up that possibility.
That sentiment, according to union sources, was made known to the President by the UDI directive, who – the same sources say – insisted that it was not convenient for Pérez to resign. The senators also conveyed their position to Pérez, who finally – despite Piñera’s resistance – privileged the vision that his party had. “Think of you” was one of the messages that union leaders had put to Pérez.
In the UDI they also felt that the minister Cristián Monckeberg (RN) did not do everything possible to avoid the approval of the libel. In this scenario, the diagnosis in unionism pointed to the need to “save the UDI” and Pérez. The latter, likewise, had talked more seriously on Sunday, with Alvarado, about the option of resigning, but he settled his decision on Tuesday.
The minister had arrived at the headquarters of Congress at 9:36, escorted by his closest team. Before entering the room, after 10.00, he had spoken with the press, said he was calm and announced that he would not resort to the previous question before the room. “Let’s hope the session ends,” he said, in turn, asked if he had planned to resign if the libel was approved.
Upon entering the hemicycle, together with his lawyer Gabriel Zaliaznik, the former senator was received with applause by Chile Vamos. The outcome, at that point, was inevitable and the ruling party knew it. Pérez was escorted at all times by ministers from the political committee, Van Rysselberghe and other UDI senators.
In the opposition, meanwhile, they insisted that they had the votes. The result, which would occur almost five and a half hours later, would confirm the projections that in the prelude to the vote had been made in the center-left, from where they lined up from the PC to the DC and they ended, at the end of the day, also presenting a motion of censure to the table of the Chamber. That milestone, in fact, would cloud the triumph and leave them, again, divided.
In the approved text, the opposition accuses the former authority of not having applied the law in the framework of the truck drivers’ strike; violate the right to equality before the law; and not to exercise hierarchical control over the police. Upon declaring the admissibility of the libel, the former minister will now have to face -as a citizen- the accusations that weigh against him before the Senate, which will act as a judge and will have to decide whether or not Pérez is guilty. The resignation of the minister is viewed favorably by opposition senators, who told the Executive in the previous days that his departure from the cabinet could give him a greater margin in the Upper House.
As the result was foreseeable by both sectors, the allegations in the room failed to capture the attention of the legislators. Even at various times there were less than half of the deputies present. The few high points of the day occurred when, while sustaining the accusation, Gabriel Ascencio (DC) accused Pérez of having been evasive “in acknowledging the human rights violations.” In addition, he stressed that “if we take into account the arguments presented in the ad hoc commission, we understand that the minister did not know that the Carabineros was in the sphere of his competence.” In turn, lawyer Zaliasnik dedicated his intervention to arguing that the action was based on purely political considerations and had no legal basis.
But the moment of greatest tension occurred when Pérez took the floor and described the libel as unfair. “I took over 90 days ago the Ministry of the Interior in extraordinarily complex moments (…). I am not sorry at all for assuming that responsibility “, he claimed.
