Former members of the “Group of 13” of the DC who condemned the coup d’état against Allende demonstrate in favor of the Rejection

The militants of the Christian Democracy (DC) and former members of the “Group of 13” who stepped aside from the majority line of the party by condemning the coup d’état against Salvador Allende, published a statement in which they expressed their support for the Rejection option in the exit plebiscite on September 4.
Through the letter, Belisario Velasco, Baldemar Carrasco and Jorge Donoso, as well as former President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Senators Ximena Rincón and Matías Walker, and former conventional Fuad Chahin, departed from the institutional decision for the Approval adopted by the National Board of the party.
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The former members of the historic DC group acknowledge that they were “determined opponents of the dictatorship’s Constitution, fraudulently approved in 1980, (…) we support the many changes made … in order to strengthen democracy and tolerance in our homeland. Consequently, we enthusiastically supported and voted in favour of the October 2020 plebiscite, hoping to have a new Constitution.” And they hoped that the new Magna Carta would enshrine “universally recognized fundamental rights and a political system that would allow those who the popular will would give them that mandate to govern, with respect for the rights of the opposition and minorities.”
“We wanted to strengthen a republican, democratic and unitary Chile, with a Constitution that unites all Chileans. However, the text approved by the Constituent Convention, although it enshrines social rights and addresses some of the main concerns of citizens, (…) contains articles that seriously violate those values and principles that we have always defended, “explain Velasco, Carrasco and Donoso, in the letter.
They criticize that the proposal for a new Constitution “establishes a political system that ends a long tradition of our democratic system, which is based on the independence and collaboration of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches.” And they criticize that “as far as the Executive Branch is concerned, the President of the Republic will lack the exclusive initiative for bills related to public spending and pension matters, a norm introduced to the Constitution by President Frei Montalva; and in matters of public security, in states of constitutional emergency the state of emergency eliminates.”
Regarding the Legislative Power, they affirm that “there will not be the necessary counterweight for the formation of laws with two chambers of similar powers, since there is no symmetry between the Congress of Deputies and the so-called Chamber of the Regions”, given the “inexplicable elimination of the Senate”. And about the Judiciary, the Christian Democratic militants question that “it also disappears and the National Justice Systems are created, separating the ordinary courts from those of native peoples, in which the jurisdictional power is handed over to authorities of that ethnic group.”
Additionally, they question, “a Council of Justice is created with broad powers, in which judges are a minority. It is made up of 17 people, including two representatives of the indigenous peoples and five elected by Congress, which opens the possibility of interference by other actors in the powers of the Judiciary.”
On the other hand, they rule that “the electoral system is distorted with reserved seats, which reminds us of the institutional senators (appointed) of the Pinochet Constitution.”

“These are some of the provisions that lead us to categorically reject, in conscience, the Constitution proposed by the Constituent Convention and that will be plebiscite on September 4. We believe that Chile needs a democratic, inclusive and respectful Constitution that guarantees unity, dignity and equal justice for all, for the common good and the development of our future generations,” the letter concludes.
Group of 13 and new constitution by El Mostrador on Scribd

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Original source in Spanish