Chilean President Gabriel Boric broke all protocols when he broke into a demonstration in front of the La Moneda Palace in the heart of Santiago this Thursday morning. The group was on site to protest the South American country’s severe housing shortage, which has led to a proliferation of camps [asentamientos irregulares] and crowded.
The left-wing president left his office and, accompanied by Minister for Women and Equality Antonia Orellana, a member of his own Social Convergence party, approached the barriers on Avenida Alameda, the main thoroughfare of the Chilean capital. There he responded directly to people who claimed the state’s slowness in building and delivering homes to the most vulnerable sections of society. To make himself heard, he picked up a megaphone, which he used to speak to the crowd.
“When we said we would build 260,000 homes, many told us it was impossible. “We told them that we are not just building the 260,000 houses, but that we will overcome them and work with you and the committees,” stressed Boric, playing on his government’s promise to ease the housing crisis.
The President told the protesters that “it is important that people are organized and demand their rights” and in the cries of the people he recognized “this problem”. [trabajo] It is not easy, but I will not give my arm to fulfill the wishes and the program that people have entrusted to us.” He also affirmed that the authorities under him will make up for the mistakes made, and they will do so together with the citizens.
Today I spoke to local residents who were demonstrating in front of La Moneda. Together with them, we will advance our goal of building 260,000 homes during our tenure! pic.twitter.com/jEhEZ8S6DF
—Gabriel Boric Font (@GabrielBoric) August 10, 2023
The Boric government has pledged to advance an ambitious emergency housing plan, which will include the construction of 260,000 houses during its term, which ends in March 2026. This is intended to alleviate the situation affecting some 650,000 families who do not. Due to the rise in rents, problems accessing mortgage loans and increased construction costs, many people have no access to housing. The goal has been questioned by some experts, including urban planner Marcial Echenique, who in an interview with EL PAIS questioned the government’s ability to build all the promised homes in less than four years.
The president’s striking intervention also comes amid a difficult time for the executive branch, which continues to suffer the fallout of the Convenios case, a corruption plot that only just began through a deal signed by Democracia Viva, a foundation affiliated with Revolución Democracia (RD )-Political party. ) of the Broad Front – Boric’s original coalition – with the Secretariat of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development of the Antofagasta Region.
The political crisis triggered by this episode spilled over into other public bodies and had a direct impact on Minister for Social Development Giorgio Jackson, the President’s main political ally and one of the leaders of the new left generation. Jackson will face a constitutional indictment brought forward Monday by the far-right traditional right-wing Republican Party, which is backed by the National Renewal (RN), the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and the Evópoli parties.