translated from Spanish: Adriana Muñoz, the potential new president of the Senate, delivered her guidelines of action should assume in March

This week PPD senators Jaime Quintana, Adriana Muñoz and Felipe Harboe met with the aim of dispeling doubts about the presidency of the Senate. The meeting eventually achieved its goal, and Harboe, who was the party’s possible letter to succeed Quintana, told them that he resigned from the possibility of assuming the presidency, to support Muñoz’s candidacy. Today, the PPD senator, who would arrive at the upper house tester in March, delivered her guidelines for action if she took office. For her, the gender, labour and water agenda will be a priority. In an interview with El Mercurio, Adriana Muñoz, who recognizes how difficult it has been to be a woman in politics, said that a collective working table consisting of president, vice president and benches must be set up. “It takes a lot of collectiveness here to break in some way this very personalistic logic that suddenly emerges. Making that group weigh on agenda decisions,” he said. For Muñoz, we must also emphasize the social agenda, open a serious debate and dialogue with everyone. “That’s the most complex thing,” he acknowledged. Remembered for seeking dialogue with the GovernmentThe legislator told the morning that she did not seek to chair the upper house, although she appreciated the decline of Senator Harboe, also of the PPD, and the fact that women’s organizations publicly requested that it be implemented there too parity. In fact, Muñoz says that if she becomes president of the Senate, she hopes to be remembered, among other issues such as gender, labor and water resource agendas; for seeking dialogue with the Government.Consultation for what that dialogue will be like, Muñoz said the aim is to “seek that the Government be able to understand that here if there is no dialogue with the opposition, if we do not manage to work together proposals attached to the depth of the demand for transformations, we will not be able to move forward.” My seal will be to be impassable to seek the transversality of opposition agreements and dialogue with the right and the Government. If this is not possible, we will vote divided, and unfortunately we will continue to give a very bad signal to the public,” he added. Regarding the agendas she intends to promote, she said that on gender issues, “the right to women to life free from violence must be made law soon.” On labor issues, he says “it’s very important to move forward in 40 hours.” And on water issues, he said he would put “a lot of emphasis on the issue of seawater desalination.” He also spoke with fellow Members, because more than two years ago the telematic follow-up project for precautionary measures on allegations of violence against women has slept. And other projects that I would like to make emblematic, hopefully the most linked to social demand,” added Muñoz, who was the first woman to hold the office of president of the Chamber of Deputies; 2002 to 2003.” A blunder was the CAE”Consulted by some self-criticism from her sector by the social crisis, Adriana Muñoz says it is impossible not to do a self-criticism. “I value very much, and I think all Chile values what has been done in 30 years. A breakthrough was made, democracy was consolidated, progress was made in leaps and bounds in poverty levels. But by the way, we also have quite large mistakes, which were being raised within the coalition. Let’s not forget the self-flagellants and the self-indulgent,” he said, what mistakes do you mean? The senator said “a blunder” was the CAE. “One wonders how it was possible for us to be part of designing this policy. Education was opened for many more, but at a cost of a debt,” Muñoz explained, acknowledging that developing the credit “was irresponsible.” We have made mistakes, we did not have the strength to deepen changes in the model, but we also did not have parliamentary strength, because the quorums are high. It may seem like a pretext, but it’s not. Here we all pay, we are all responsible, but the right has been very responsible, which has been parapeted in the Constitution to defend the model,” he said. In that sense Adriana Muñoz had words for the Government, stating that she cannot say that the person responsible for the social outburst is the right because “it is actually a cluster”.” It was the turn of a right-wing government because I think people put a lot of expectation that with President Piñera a government was going to arrive where all the mistakes of the New Majority were going to be corrected. So it erupts when many programmatic promises could not be seen. Now, I believe that in the face of the outbreak the Government has not handled it well, its proposals are disassociated with the movement,” he concluded. 

Original source in Spanish