It has been two weeks since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in the country and, declared Phase 4 of the virus, the 200 nationally infected barrier has already been exceeded. The Government has closed borders, suspended school-level classes and established protocols that prioritize telework for the most at-risk population in public services. Measures that have not only been taken late, so the weak management of the health crisis by the pine-strong administration has been strongly questioned, but they were also resisted by the Minister of Health, Jaime Mañalich, precisely the figure appointed by the President to take over the situation.
The secretary of state has had more than one encounter over the past week with mayors, parliamentarians and specialists from the health world. Very in his “confrontational and brought to his idea” style, which his close ones recognize him, over the weekend he started as mayor proposed that classes be canceled, when the country was still in Phase 3 and it was already known that social estrangement is the best tool to stop the contagion. Mañalich “became a Twitter troll,” as they said from Palacio, as he not only challenged from his personal account different personalities of the public world and citizen who criticized or placed him, but also blocked them, which included the analyst Marta Lagos policy. Sources of La Moneda stated that Mañalich chose “by hand” the Committee of Experts, the same one that recommended not to suspend classes, an idea that was publicly discarded, on Sunday, by President Sebastián Piñera himself. A “floor lift” that would have hurt Mañalich quite a lot, considering that her figure and crisis management were already being flanks of criticism inside Chile Vamos, which would have generated phone calls on Monday to the mPs who sketched publicly their discrepancies.
Calls of attention that would have been extended to several mayors and mayors of officialism, who – according to people of Chile Vamos – “have been the true leaders of the process, because Mañalich has been completely opaque”. Something that – according to the secretary of state – would have circled his ministerial team, since the objective was for the head of that portfolio to be the one who “concentrates all the political responsibility of the government”.
Added criticism of the strategy against coronavurus in the health world, in which the minister does not have many allies, considering that he resigned from the Medical College (Colmed) just before he was expelled by the agency. And one figure who would be generating “a major nuisance” in Mañalich would be that of Colmed’s president, Izkia Siches, who has managed to concentrate a high political and social validity, along with a notoriety in the media: he has headed round of meetings with political parties, the social table and has demanded more isolated measures for the population.
Criticism of Mañalich’s management has also been generated in other collegiate bodies in the area of health, such as the College of Nurses, which on Monday 16 issued a statement requesting, once again, to be integrated into the areas of preparation of the strategy by COVID-19, alluding to the “first line” of Coronavirus containment.
That’s not all. The minister has also had an internal flank in the Minsal, his own workers have reported that until Tuesday at noon noon noon no ongoing noon no ongoing measures were not yet taken to isolate officials and officials from the risk segments to the Coronavirus. Moreover, in a letter sent to the minister by the Afuminsal, it was noted that on Monday and “after union pressures”, the Minsal had to close the headquarters of the Compin de Huérfanos with Mac Iver, where 16 cases of officials with Coronavirus were presented.
In the Ministry of Health they recognized that the figure of Mañalich “comes disenhanced long ago” and recalled that he was the subject of funas after he ensured that Chile had the best health system in the world, so it is not explained how President Piñera left “someone with so little political management in charge of a pandemic.” Criticism swirling also from the Chilean Vamos, where they still remember “the bad timing of the minister” when before time he slid that the plebiscite should be suspended in the face of the possibility of COVID-19 reaching the country.
The Protégé
But despite constant questioning and low numbers in Minister Mañalich’s polls (80% rejection in polls), officialism did not cause strangeness that the Representative would leave all responsibility for the crisis for the coronavirus on his shoulders. It is that, according to government officials, the Minister of Health is one of the most loyal members that President Sebastián Piñera has in his ministerial cabinet. In pure Castilian, a renowned piñerista, part of his circle of trust.
Mañalich was for years the head physician of the Piñera-Morel family and former director of the Las Condes Clinic, while the president was now one of his shareholders, during which time they built a “deep and faithful friendship”, they said from the Government.
A relationship that has given him some political immunity, which has protected him since Piñera’s first term, when he also headed the Health portfolio. The phrase with which the minister incretulated a journalist from El Mercurio by an alleged campaign against him is still remembered: “I tell you a little thing, with me it does not be toned. The protection I have is so strong,” Mañalich said in 2013.
Although the minister apologized and the then spokesperson, Cecilia Pérez, stepped out saying, jokingly, that he was referring to “divine protection,” several officialpeople considered the fact at the time to be a public ostentation of the power he had Mañalich, “not only in the government, but about the President himself.” Something that hasn’t changed over the years.
Few dare to publicly highlight the weaknesses of the minister, who , as they pointed out in Palacio, “is commanded alone,” a power that allows him, they added, to draw attention to some of his peers in the cabinet who would have expressed his dissatisfaction with his decisions and approaches. In fact, government sources stated that this would have been the case over the weekend with Education Minister Raúl Figueroa and interior owner Gonzalo Blumel, who would have made it happen that he agreed with the mayors’ proposal to suspend the 14-day classes.
In La Moneda they insisted that no one dares to discuss the minister’s vision and that, although extensive efforts have been made to convene specialists and politicians from all sectors linked to the area of health to deal with the health crisis caused by the coronavirus, Mañalich’s “authoritarian” character would not allow “a different action than he wants.”
Another figure
In the midst of this discussion over the performance of the Government and Minister Mañalich, voices have emerged that another figure needs to be promoted to lead the process.
Although it was initially thought that the President would appoint a presidential delegate to lead the strategy to deal with the crisis, the idea would have been totally rejected, since – according to near the Government – he would only have the confidence policy in Mañalich. “If it had been someone else, I would have the President on top of the subject all the time, without knowing technical specificities,” they said from Chile Vamos.
Another option that has emerged is the establishment of a Committee of Experts, but not as an adviser, but as a resolution, that integrates the different dimensions of civil society, with technicians, specialists and politicians linked to the area of health and epidemiology. A figure similar to the one proposed by the Colmed on Monday in La Moneda, but that, if concrete, yes or yes would be led by Mañalich, since the idea would be to align the most dissident voices after the leadership of the minister.
In opposition, they matched Izkia Siches’ proposal. The member of the Committee on Health, Miguel Crispi, noted that there is a need to have a coordinating body that is broader than the Executive: “It seems clear to me, after how the Government has handled the voices and certain decisions in the early days of this crisis that is just beginning. That is why I think it is prudent and sensible to have the Medical College’s proposal to have a broader advice that gives people some reassurance that politics is not crossed with the health decision.”
A proposal, they assured, would not be very convinced by the Minister of Health, who would prefer to hold separate meetings with the same actors, but that the final decision was only his.
Despite the opinions in private, in officialism have been closing ranks in front of the figure of Mañalich, Asked several parliamentarians of Chile Vamos, insisted that “you do not have to change your voice halfway”. MR. RN, Ximena Ossandón, said that “since it is a complex situation, it is very important that it be led by a person. In this case the Minister of Health, clearly supported by the best specialists and those who can contribute. There is a lot of fear a product of different voices, that creates uncertainty and disorder. I think these are not times for political calculations, but that we must all strengthen the minister’s leadership to give peace of mind and guidance to citizens. It seems to me that today more than ever needs to contribute.”
