Chamber of Deputies rejects reform project on critical infrastructure protection and passes to mixed commission

The Chamber of Deputies rejected the draft constitutional reform that regulates a state of alert to prevent damage to critical infrastructure, for not reaching the required quorum of 93 votes.

The initiative, which received 74 votes in favor, 63 against and two abstentions, passed to a mixed committee.

In the previous debate, the Minister of Defense, Mario Desbordes, participated, who emphasized that the norm “is enshrined in the prohibition of the Armed Forces from assuming functions to restore order.”

The deputy Matías Walker (DC) who chairs the Constitution Commission and voted in favor of the regulation, as did Gabriel Silber and Pepe Auth in the opposition, previously indicated that “This project has to be improved and returned to the commission.”

Tomás Hirsh (IND), meanwhile, described it as “shameful that this bill is being presented today.”

“All this project does is insist on the idea that peace in Chile is sustained on the basis of repression and threat. And that formula has already shown that it is a failure, “he said.

Deputy Jorge Alessandri (UDI), for his part, stated that “this project is asking Congress that in crisis situations the President protect certain infrastructure so that water, electricity, gas and telecommunications can reach homes.”

Jorge Brito (RD), said that “those who plan to approve this do not know what will be done with this law.”

“That is the irresponsibility that we are denouncing. No country in the world that they have cited as an example approved of involving the Armed Forces in critical infrastructure without saying what critical infrastructure is, that is the flaw of the project. The country does not need more repressive laws ”, he emphasized.