Chilean President-Elect Boric Presents His Cabinet's Members

In a ceremony held on Friday at the Chilean Natural History Museum, President-elect Gabriel Boric made public the names of those politicians who will integrate his cabinet.

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Fourteen of 24 ministries will be headed by women: Antonia Urrejola (Foreign Affairs), Maya Fernandez (Defense), Jeanette Vega (Social Development), Marcela Rios (Justice), Jeanette Jara (Labor), Maria Yarza (Health), Marcela Hernando (Mining), Javiera Toro (National Assets), Maria Rojas (Environment), Alexandra Benado (Sport), Antonia Orellana (Woman), Julieta Brodsky (Culture), Camila Vallejo (General Secretary), and Izkia Siches (Interior).

The rest of the cabinet is made up of Marco Avila (Education), Esteban Valenzuela (Agriculture), Juan Carlos Muñoz (Transport and Telecommunications), Claudio Huepe (Energy), and Flavio Andres (Science &Technology).

"Today a new chapter in our democratic history begins to be written. We do not start from scratch: we know there is a story that elevates and inspires us," Boric said implicitly referring to former leftist President Michelle Bachelet’s cabinet, which was gender-balanced. 

His cabinet includes members from traditional center-left organizations that did not support him in the first round of elections. Among them are militants of the Liberal and Radical parties. "We are accompanied in this team by ministers from different backgrounds and formations: our cabinet we will diverse like our country," he stated.

The San Sebastian University Director Jaime Abedrapo welcomed this strategy, stressing that it will help Boric to find support to his structural reforms in the new-elected parliament, in which pro-government lawmakers’ representation only reaches 25 percent.

"We are going to make all the changes we proposed... because we are convinced that most Chileans want structural changes that allow them to have a decent life," he stressed.