Chile Update: What Changed in Bachelet's Surprise Cabinet Reshuffle

Sábado Gigante’s Don Francisco and Chilean TV viewers alike were in for a surprise when President Michelle Bachelet announced a cabinet shakeup in a live interview on the evening of May 6. (This despite the president’s exchange with a reporter a month earlier in which she said, “The day I make a change in the cabinet, I’m not going to do it in an interview.”) Bachelet gave all members of her cabinet 72 hours to submit their resignations, and after review, she would announce who would stay and who would go. The move is among the first measures of the president’s transparency and anti-corruption agenda that will attempt to abate a series of scandals plaguing her administration and boost her sagging poll numbers. In the end, she accepted the resignation of five ministers, rotated four to different seats, and brought on five new ones; 14 ministers remained untouched in their seats.

Here are highlights of some key positions that are changing or, in some cases, staying the same: 

Finance Minister: Bachelet named Rodrigo Valdés to replace Alberto Arenas in this role, marking the first time a finance minister was unseated since the 1990 transition to democracy. Valdés’ extensive background working with the private sector is expected to build market confidence, which Arenas is said to have damaged when he failed to consult business leaders on a plan to raise $8.2 billion in taxes. 

Previously, Váldes worked at Barclays Capital with a focus on Brazil, Chile, and Mexico and later as the subdirector of the International Monetary Fund’s European Department. Immediately prior to taking this cabinet post, he was the president of Chile’s state-owned bank, BancoEstado. The economist, who earned his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will now have to address the country’s slowing growth, which dropped to 1.9 percent in 2014—Chile’s lowest rate in five years. 

Education Minister: Bachelet chose to hold on to Education Minister Nicolás Eyzaguirre, an economist and critical player in Chile’s educational reform agenda. The president’s choice to keep Eyzaguirre received mixed reviews: while some see his confirmation as essential to the continuity of the reform’s momentum, many university students criticize the minister for leaving them out of the reform process. 

Interior Minister: Rodrigo Peñailillo’s ousting was among the less surprising changes in the cabinet, given his alleged connection to a campaign-funding scandal. Bachelet moved Jorge Burgos from defense minister into Peñailillo’s place, as the former has an extensive political background that includes positions within the Interior Ministry, including legal adviser from 1990 to 1993, and undersecretary from 2000 to 2001. He also served as Chile’s ambassador to Ecuador between 1996 and 2000, and afterwards took a seat in the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the Christian Democratic Party for three terms. Bachelet appointed Burgos minister of defense in January 2014, where he served until the cabinet switch. 

Foreign Minister: By the morning after she announced the cabinet reshuffling, Bachelet quickly clarified that Heraldo Muñoz was one cabinet member she would leave in his current role, due to his marked leadership. Just last week, Muñoz was in The Hague defending Chile’s maritime rights against Bolivia’s claim to sea access before the International Court of Justice. Muñoz has vast experience in international relations, beginning in 1990 as the Chilean ambassador to the Organization of American States. He was also Chile’s ambassador to Brazil during Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle’s presidency from 1994 to 1998. In 2003, Muñoz became Chile’s permanent representative to the UN, and in 2010 he was appointed the Latin America bureau director of the UN Development Programme.

Defense Minister: José Antonio Gómez switched from being justice minister to this position (replacing Burgos). Gómez served as justice minister for two presidents—under Ricardo Lagos in the early 2000s and then later under Bachelet during her second term—after being undersecretary for the same ministry from 1996 to 1999. His defense background comes from his years in the Senate (2006–2014), when he participated in the National Defense Commission. Gómez launched a presidential bid twice—in 2009 and 2013.

General Secretariat of the Government: Marcelo Díaz Díaz took Álvaro Elizalde’s role as the presidential spokesman. Díaz has experience working in various foreign relations jobs in the government, such as Chile’s ambassador to Argentina, just before Bachelet’s reshuffle. 

Labor Minister: Formerly Bachelet’s chief of staff, Ximena Rincón took over Javiera Blanco’s role as head of the Labor Ministry, while the latter became justice minister. Rincón’s legal experience and Senate stint could help with Chile’s labor reform, which was submitted to Congress in December. During her time in Congress, Rincón was a member of the Senate Commission on Labor and supported the reform’s objective to protect workers’ rights to strike and unionize. The reappointment comes after Rincón told El Mercurio in mid-April that she would retire from politics once Bachelet’s current term was over.