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Senator DC, Carolina Goic, avoids pronouncing directly – since she will act as a judge – on the constitutional accusation against the former Minister of the Interior, Victor Perez, which was approved on Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies and must now be reviewed by the Senate.
The legislator, however, maintains that Pérez is no longer in office and therefore this is a factor that must be considered. Likewise, it emphasizes that at the point of constitutional accusations the problem of public security will not be solved. He also warns that those who believe that unity is built with this type of tool are “deeply mistaken”.
Were you surprised by the resignation of Minister Víctor Pérez?
It was one of the alternatives one could hope for.
Does that decompress the atmosphere for the Senate?
In that I have to be careful, I cannot refer to the constitutional accusation. And one is a judge in the second instance, if I speak I would be disqualified. But I do believe that after all the constitutional accusations there have been, it is also time to start working on a purpose that makes a little more sense to the people. It is reasonable to ask what minute we begin to see ideas on the table, what minute we begin to see a proposal.
Beyond your vote or the grounds, has the decision to resign already fulfilled the political objective of the prosecution?
The constitutional accusations have two effects. One has to do with the defendant not continuing in office, then it has to do with asserting political responsibility, and another is inability. What corresponds is to analyze on their merits the proposals of the prosecution with the background that we have on the table today. The minister is no longer in office and that is a factor that we have to weigh.
Would it make sense to disqualify a person for five years if they are no longer in office?
I insist, I cannot make a prior statement regarding what my vote is going to be, but I do believe that there is a fundamental issue here that we have to address. The government clearly in this has to take care of not doing its job well and that is something that it has to take care of. When we talk about what happens in the management of public order or security issues and the situation of the Carabineros, the government cannot continue to use the attitude of the opposition as an excuse for not moving forward. Here it is urgent … what else has to happen to advance a reform of the State to Carabineros, the proposals are all on the table and that is where one expects a change in attitude. That said, we also have to do self-criticism in the opposition. At the point of constitutional accusations we are not going to solve the problems of public security and we must honestly evaluate what the string of constitutional accusations has meant and those who believe that at the point of accusations we are going to build unity in the opposition are deeply mistaken. It is there that as an opposition, if we are able to tune into the path that the people want, we will be able to build an alternative of governance.
So is this accusation justified considering that the minister has already resigned?
The accusation is a mechanism that is established in our Constitution, in that I am not going to question the powers that the Chamber has, but without a doubt that there is a precedent that adds to the approach that is made and that has to be weighed on its merit now that we have to vote for it in the Senate.
In the sense that the resignation has to be considered in the vote?
It is an antecedent, that is, the minister arrives as a citizen and the accusations have two effects, one is to assert the political responsibility that the accused does not continue in his position and the other is his inability.
And the political responsibility, then, was fulfilled?
I will not advance my vote. What I do hope, because here what the citizens expect is that we take charge of the underlying issue and that is for the government to understand what its responsibility is regarding the management of public order and not continue delaying reforms where the proposals are put on the table . We begin this week the discussion of the Budget with the presentation of Segio Micco asking for the necessary resources for the NHRI and the reparation programs. In other words, we also show signs of taking charge of the problems that exist.
What do you think of the string of accusations promoted by the center-left? Do you think it affects stability or could it generate misrule?
It is clear that it does not generate political revenue, which is a wrong strategy, not only to generate unity in the opposition but also to reconnect with the citizenry as well as I do not think it makes sense to continue hitting a government that is on the ground. What is the political payoff of that? We are wasting precious time to be able to make proposals that take care of what people are waiting for. Because what idea remains of all this, what approach remains of all this. So this is a trap. Here the government is incapable, but neither has the opposition been capable in its approach.
Senator Quintana spoke of a de facto parliamentarism. Do you see that some of that is expressed here?
What I hope is that parliamentarians take advantage of the space we have, listen to what people are asking of us and, especially in my sector, do our job. In other words, I give you an example of the inability of the government in provisional matters. The only thing they have done is a communication show to endorse the opposition the responsibility of not moving forward. But they have not submitted their proposal since last year. In other words, what I hope there is a constructive attitude and we have done so as the opposition and I hope that the government assumes its responsibility. What really interests me is to increase the pensions of the old people who cannot keep waiting. I give you another example. Today in the morning. Today in the morning I was at the CEP in a seminar where they presented us with a reform proposal to Fonasa and the strengthening so that it is truly a public insurance, worked from technicians from the FA to the UDI, and they agreed. And we are going to start discussing that project next week. Then, the time has come for the political world to understand that it is necessary to respond according to what citizens need. We cannot continue to delay that because we are each in our trench, playing a game that is zero sum.
Don’t you think that the attitude of the opposition could install the idea that they are trying to remove all the interior ministers?
I ask finally what is the result of that. How does the reality of people who live in fear today because a crazy bullet hits them that takes the life of one of their children in their own home. Or the situation in La Araucanía, where everyone says they want peace and non-violence. So that’s where I say: I think it’s enough and the time has come to take advantage of the time to generate proposals and ideas to solve people’s problems. If politics is not capable of building bridges that connect with citizens, we are renouncing the essence of the meaning of what we do.
