Senator Rodolfo Carter (independent, Republican caucus) lashed out at Evelyn Matthei, the former presidential candidate of the Chile Vamos coalition. He accused her of being "uncontrollably full of resentment" over her criticism of José Antonio Kast's government.
According to BioBioChile, Carter made the remarks on the podcast Entender es Todo, from the outlet The Clinic. "I think Evelyn Matthei is incompatible with the word unity", the lawmaker said.
Carter acknowledged that some of the criticism from the former mayor of Providencia, a comuna (municipality) in Santiago, is "reasonable". However, he added: "The level of resentment she carries, I don't even read it anymore". He described her as "the most talented, hardest-working, most intelligent politician", though marked by that resentment.
He then closed with the line that sparked the controversy: "I hope that when I reach that age, I don't end up like that". He was referring to Matthei's interview, in which she repeatedly said she shouldn't say certain things and then said them anyway.
The dispute began with an interview Matthei gave to La Tercera over the weekend. In it, she argued that Kast's cabinet "still needs to understand how command is exercised". On the economy and unemployment, she said the Executive "lacks a team and has too much arrogance".
The former Labor minister also called the government's political design "serious". She denounced "a double power structure: one formal and another in the shadows". She also charged that "Republicans only work with Republicans", which in her view brought people with no experience into La Moneda, the presidential palace.
Matthei also questioned the end of the Yo Elijo mi PC program, which provides computers to schoolchildren. "Leaving thousands of children without their computers is a decision that simply makes no sense", she said.
The tension is not new. According to BioBioChile, in 2026, before the campaigns, Carter pushed for a "broad primary" on the right against Matthei. It did not happen, and the former mayor of La Florida left Chile Vamos to move closer to the Partido Republicano (Republican Party). He is now a senator for La Araucanía.
Matthei is a member of the UDI (Unión Demócrata Independiente), a party in the governing coalition, and backed Kast in the runoff. Even so, criticism of her remarks also came from her own camp.
UDI deputy Sergio Bobadilla spoke of "unnecessary noise" and called for criticism to be made "where it belongs and to whom it belongs". Earlier, the president of the Partido Republicano, Arturo Squella, had already said that Matthei and unity are "incompatible" concepts.
The friction comes at a cost for the Executive. At this Monday's expanded political committee meeting, the government asked its allied parties to tone down public criticism ahead of the 2027 Budget's passage through Congress. So far, Matthei has not responded to Carter.