Mario Waissbluth for the Convention: “I also want profound changes, but not stupid”

The Constitutional Convention is working intensively these days to approve the first constitutional norms that will be included in the draft of the new Magna Carta, which must then be voted by the citizens in the exit plebiscite. And although in general the internal balance has been positive, given that 2/3 has been reached without problems in most of the articles voted, and there is a perception from within the CC that the proposals have been moderated, there are sectors that have intensified the criticism of what was resolved during these votes.
Thus was born the group Amarillos por Chile, which brings together figures ranging from the center-left (former Concertación) to the center-right. They say they do not want to be a political party and so far brings together more than 70 people, including the founder of Education 2020, Mario Waissbluth.
The engineer, also in an interview with La Tercera, delved into the group, but also his criticisms about the Regional State, one of the first norms approved in general and particular, despite being an advocate of decentralization.
On that point, Waissbluth considered that “the current proposal of a regional state, with Autonomous Regions, Autonomous Communes and Autonomous Territories, all with the power to change taxation and issue public debt, is quite delusional, by pure common sense. I still hope that these days the plenary will correct that disaster (…) They are designing a country that is entitled to be a failed state.”
In his opinion, with this the country could “argentinize”. “By giving total autonomy – forget the communes and autonomous territories and leave only the regions – with full fiscal autonomy, that is Argentina. At some point in the delusions in Argentina the regions came to issue banknotes, paper money.” Although he acknowledged that this has not been raised in the Convention, he emphasized that “autonomy is being considered to do so.”
“It has to be very gradual. It has to be first administrative, then transfer functions to the regional states and then continue to transfer more and more autonomy in the financial field, and at the turn of 20 years, maybe some fiscal autonomy. But this issue they are raising now is a leap into the void,” he added.
“I also want profound changes, but not stupid,” said the founder of Education 2020, who said that a refoundational euphoria has been installed in the CC, and that some “feel that they do not have any political, institutional or economic obstacle to refound the country to their own devices. The reality is hard and it’s different.”
In the more political view of the CC, Waissbluth claimed that the right is in a deep minority, and that “nobody wants to even listen to them. And that’s a serious mistake.” He pointed out that it should be considered that omitting that the right has almost half of the seats in Congress, “is crazy.” “They are going to get a Constitution and the next day in Congress they are going to propose reforms to the new Constitution. Or not? And we are going to plunge the country back into constitutional instability for having been so arrogant that they did not want to listen to the right in the Convention,” he added.
In his vision, the PC, the native peoples and the former members of La Lista del Pueblo are the ones who have the baton in the Convention, and that is why “they have to have the generosity to say although you do not have enough votes I will listen to you.” On the other hand, he considered that the parties of the Broad Front “have played a rather sad role” and that if the CC defines very radical measures “they will create a headache for President Boric. The first victim is going to be President Boric.”
On the possibility that he warned of voting rejection in the exit plebiscite, Waissbluth clarified that he will only vote in that way if “articles as delirious as that of the regional state” are maintained, and that in case of missing that exit plebiscite, he said that “the violence we would have in the country would be terrifying.”

Original source in Spanish