Since La Moneda they have not seen with good eyes the actions of some mayors to confront the Covid-19 pandemic. This was demonstrated by Ministers Gonzalo Blumel (Interior), Alfredo Moreno (Public Works) and Jaime Mañalich (Health).
In conversation with T13 Radio, Blumel argued that mayors “have to make decisions that are in the general interest and public health, in this case, and not necessarily those things that may be more popular.” Meanwhile, the owner of Public Works, Alfredo Moreno, told Radio Duna that “there is a temptation to take measures, say, specific, in different places, communes, regions. But you have to take into account that each of these measures it does is complicate what happens next to it.”
For his part, health minister Jaime Mañalich referred in harsh terms to the management of some buildings, but without giving names. “We understand that some people, some opinion leaders, may have some vertigo for participating in communication activities or proposing actions and initiatives that have no livelihood and many of them even to much worse effect,” he said.
“In that sense I call on the enormous responsibility of all our actors to act thinking about the good of the country and not in a forthcoming electoral process,” the Health headline lashed out.
The discord between the government and the mayors lies in the decision of the mayors of Providencia, La Florida and Las Condes to independently decree the suspension of classes in municipal schools. This, coupled with the closure of shopping malls, led to this new conflict in national politics amid the coronavirus emergency.
