The Minutes of Friday 16092022

Taking advantage of the tailwind left by the Rejection 
The triumph of the Rejection in the exit plebiscite of last Sunday, September 4, drew a new political scenario, where the Government of President Gabriel Boric had to quickly deliver a signal and restructure his cabinet, balancing forces in favor of Democratic Socialism. In this context, the political center re-emerges as an empowered space, with leaderships that could play a key role in the new constituent discussion. Harboe, Rincon, Walker and others seek to create a new centrist political reference.
Scientific study quantifies Colina River drought, whose water rights the Army leases to third parties
During the period of drought, that is, in the last 10 years, the average flow dropped to 1050 l/s and, in the last three years, it was only 270 l/s, according to the research of geologist Sergio Iriarte, from the University of Chile. That is, 85% less than the historical average. The Chilean Army owns a good part of the water rights in the area, and the same institution leases them to the agricultural company Chacabuco Quality Grapes, an exporter of grapes. The scientist warns that, in addition to affecting the inhabitants of Colina, it impacts groundwater.
The polite does not take away the annoying: until November the patience of the European Union with the Government lasts
Among many features, diplomacy is the art of manifesting annoyance politely and sympathetically. That is the tone that today characterizes relations around the project of modernization of the Association Agreement of the European Union with Chile, which has been several months without apparent movement in the dependencies of the Foreign Ministry. While it is expressed through official channels that the delay of the Government of President Gabriel Boric to seal the agreement is understandable, when several points that the administration of former President Piñera left ready are still under review, the truth is that such an understanding – say sources – denotes a clear discomfort with the slowness with which the Chilean Executive has conducted the negotiations. To such an extent comes the discomfort that they assure – diplomatically – that the patience of the European Union would last until November, a deadline that they hope will coincide with the 20 years of the original treaty.
Chile Vamos “tironeados” by Republicans
The political analyst Tomás Duval, and the academic of Constitutional Law of the Alberto Hurtado University, Gustavo Poblete, referred to the scenario in which Chile Vamos finds itself after the exit plebiscite that gave a broad triumph to the Rejection. This is because, although the most moderate parties of the opposition coalition, such as the UDI, RN and Evópoli, pledged to continue with the constituent process, other voices that were allies of theirs during the last presidential campaign, such as the Republican Party, have warned that they do not want a new Constitution. Relive a new chapter of Political Week.
TPP11, the project that strains the pro-government senators
With three votes in favor, on October 17, 2019, the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP11) was approved in the Senate Constitution Committee, which was resisted by the then opposition. Social outbreak, pandemic and a constituent process in between, after almost 3 years the project is ready to be seen in the Chamber of the Upper House and the then opposition is now official under the Government of President Gabriel Boric, who showed himself this week willing to resume the process. All this, in the face of the conflicting visions within the government coalition.
2023 Pan American Games: Cerrillos Volleyball Sports Center wobbly due to high cost
A serious organizational setback is the one that would be on the verge of suffering the realization of the Pan American and Parapan American Games 2023, and the stumble is no less for its sporting implications: the “fall” or discard of the Volleyball Sports Center that would rise in the Bicentennial Park City of Cerrillos, in a cloth delivered on loan by the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism (Minvu) to the Olympic Committee of Chile (COCH) for a period of five years. The reason is simple: the more than 9 billion pesos budgeted by the National Sports Institute (IND) would be insufficient to erect the aforementioned infrastructure.
Héctor Cabrera, partner at PwC: “The explosion made companies live more closely the social problems”
Only 24% of Chilean boards admit to considering ESG factors in their strategic decisions and only 1 in 10 regularly reviews their progress and objectives in their monthly meetings. “Chilean companies lack a long way to understand and adapt to ESG standards. They are currently reacting to pressure of regulators, investors and shareholders, but not out of conviction,” Hector Cabrera said in a new chapter of La Mesa de El Mostrador.
Government Is Silent and Tacitly Acknowledges Lucia Dammert’s Link to Former Mexican Drug Czar Investigated for Drug Trafficking
After the precipitous fall of the former adviser to the Presidency, Lucía Dammert, and before the publication of an article that directly related the sociologist with the former anti-drug czar Genaro García Luna, currently imprisoned and investigated by the New York Prosecutor’s Office for his links with the feared Sinaloa drug cartel, La Moneda kept a jealous silence that has only tacitly confirmed the effectiveness of such links. This silence contrasted with the foreign ministry’s quick denial of another of the interference media’s assertions, in which it was argued that the ambassador to the UN, Paula Narváez, would have alerted Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola about the serious problem facing Dammert. At the exit of the political committee, the Government was absent leaving the presidents of the Democratic Socialism party as spokespersons. Without going into details, they referred to say that the former adviser had already denied the information through her personal networks. Indeed, Dammert maintained that she had never been an adviser to the former Secretary of Security of the Government of Mexico. A totally contradictory assertion with what she herself maintained, and for years, in her own LinkedIn resume, where she points out to have been a senior advisor to the Secretariat of Security of the Government of Mexico, precisely in the glory years of Genaro García Luna. We close this weekly summary with the controversy on the second floor of La Moneda.

Original source in Spanish