Former government spokesperson and minister Camila Vallejo (PC) sharply criticized the first seven months of José Antonio Kast's administration. In an interview with The Clinic, she described it as an "extremely classist" government and said it had not fulfilled its campaign promises.
According to El Mostrador, Gabriel Boric's former spokesperson summed up her criticism with a direct statement: "Candidate Kast would today ask President Kast to resign, because he has fulfilled none of what he promised." According to ADN Radio, she added that if the president continued behaving as he had as a candidate, he would be questioning his own administration and calling for ministers to leave.
The accusation of classism rests on specific budget decisions. Vallejo mentioned the elimination of the Yo Elijo Mi PC program, which provides computers to seventh-grade students. She also criticized reduced funding for the Ricardo Soto Law, which finances high-cost treatments, and the smaller budget for the employment subsidy amid a jobs crisis.
The former minister rejected the argument that spending efficiency justified those cuts. "Making government spending more efficient and modernizing the state so it works better does not mean taking computers away from seventh-grade boys and girls," she said. She also questioned the decline in public investment.
Vallejo also targeted the administration's strategy of blaming the previous government for the economy. "The jobs crisis and the growth crisis can no longer be attributed to the previous government. That narrative has run its course, and people are feeling it," she said, according to ADN Radio. The same outlet reported her criticism of the government's tax reform, which she believes benefits higher-income groups.
The employment situation adds weight to the debate. According to recently published articles, unemployment has reached 9.6%, and even RN Senator Paulina Núñez asked the government for an employment bonus. Meanwhile, the Cadem poll records a 64% disapproval rating for Kast.
On politics, Vallejo said that "Pinochetism has come to power," although she maintained that it does not command a majority in the country. She also criticized denial of the dictatorship's crimes and said the right had succeeded in establishing its framing of security and the economy.
The former minister also criticized her own political camp. She acknowledged that the left had denied the advance of the far right, entered the contest on social media too late, and failed to change an economic model she considers unequal. "The far right read Gramsci better than the left did," she said, referring to the Italian thinker who theorized about cultural struggle.
On leadership, she welcomed former President Michelle Bachelet's continued availability and rejected the idea that a potential candidacy by Bachelet would hinder renewal. She called on parties, from the PC to the Christian Democratic Party, to strengthen their work in local communities to "build a social and political majority."
The sources reviewed contain no response from the government or governing parties to Vallejo's criticism. Meanwhile, the minister of economy and mining set a target of 100 thousand jobs by March 2027.
