The mayor of Ñuñoa, a municipality in Santiago, Sebastián Sichel, took direct aim at Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz. "Either Quiroz changes and reinvents himself as a Finance Minister who understands politics, or a political minister who understands public policy has to be found to counterbalance him", he said.
Sichel made these remarks in an interview with La Tercera. He was the center-right's presidential candidate and is now an independent aligned with Evópoli, one of the governing coalition parties. The criticism comes as polls show José Antonio Kast's government at its lowest point in public approval.
The mayor said he does not know Quiroz, although he has tried to meet with him. According to Sichel, neither his status as a member of the governing coalition nor his good ratings as mayor opened the door to Teatinos 120, home of the Ministry of Finance. For Sichel, this proves that the economic chief does not take into account the political dimension of his decisions.
His diagnosis points to a threefold error. The first is a lack of empathy in the middle of an economic and employment crisis. "When people don't have a job", he argued, the government must understand that an early response matters as much as a long-term vision.
The second error, according to Sichel, is political ambiguity. In his view, the Executive is flirting at the same time with the center and with the national libertarian camp. He compared this behavior to that of former President Gabriel Boric, whose government, he said, ended up diluted by trying to please everyone.
The third is about management. If the government defined itself as an emergency government, it must respond quickly, and that has not happened. Sichel cited as an example the delay in appointing Martín Arrau to Security. He also questioned the bill proposing an eight-month state of exception. As a constitutional lawyer, he said, he would have applauded one of 15 days, subject to extension.
On Quiroz, the mayor acknowledged that he does the job, but described him as "the class treasurer", someone tightening the fiscal purse strings because of the inherited deficit. "Finance Ministers are either politicians or treasurers", he said. If they are treasurers, he added, another minister must set spending priorities, something he does not currently see in the cabinet.
Sichel contrasted Quiroz with Andrés Velasco, Finance Minister under the Concertación coalition, whom he admired for his countercyclical decisions. He also recalled that Sebastián Piñera invested in the middle of the crisis after the earthquake. "Today I see a frightened government, panicked about fiscal spending, as if going back to an eighties right wing", he said.
The mayor also criticized the official explanation for withdrawing computers from students. He said that justifying it by claiming children could use them to view pornographic websites or sell them at the street market is an affront to people. He added the rise in gasoline prices and fears of unemployment.
Of the three priorities Kast promised during the campaign, security, growth and putting the State in order, Sichel said he has not seen backing from the fiscal purse. Sources do not record a response from Quiroz or from La Moneda, the presidential palace, to his challenges.
