[ARCHIVO] The President of Chile makes changes to her Cabinet of Ministers
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, has accepted the resignations of the Minister Secretary General of the Government, Marcelo Díaz, the Labor and Social Security Minister, Ximena Rincón, and the Sports Minister, Natalia Riffo. She thanked each of them for their work whilst in office.
The President has appointed as Minister Secretary General of the Government Paula Narváez, who holds a degree in psychology from Universidad Andrés Bello, a Master’s Degree in Economics and Regional Management from Universidad Austral and a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University. She is an active member of the Partido Socialista party and has served as regional director of the National Women’s Service (Sernam) and of the Regional Labor Secretariat for the Los Lagos Region. Between 2012 and February 2014, she worked as Programme Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean at UN Women in New York and Panama. She has until now been serving as a consultant to the presidential cabinet.
The President also announced the appointment of Alejandra Krauss Valle as the Labor and Social Security Minister. Ms. Krauss has a degree in law from Universidad de Chile and is an active member of the Democracia Cristiana party. She has served as Director General of the Judicial Assistance Corporation for the Metropolitan Region (2007-2010) and Course Director at the Faculty of Law for the Santiago campus of Universidad San Sebastián (2006-2007). Ms. Krauss has also served as external lawyer for the state-owned bank, Banco Estado (2002-2010), as external consultant for the state-owned oil company, Empresa Nacional del Petróleo (2002), as consultant to the Social Security Undersecretary’s office (2002), as Minister of Planning and Cooperation (2000-2002) and as a member of the General Council of the Chilean Bar Association, the Colegio de Abogados de Chile A.G. (1993-2000). Ms. Krauss has also served as councilor for the municipality of La Florida for the period 2004–2008 and as National Deputy Chair of the Demócrata Cristiano party between 2003 and 2005.
Finally, Pablo Squella Serrano is to be the new Sports Minister. Mr. Squella has a degree in journalism from Universidad de Chile and has studied physical education at the University of Texas at Austin in the United States. He was also selected for the national athletics team between 1980 and 1996, during which period he represented Chile at the Olympics in Seoul, Korea in 1988 and at Barcelona, Spain in 1992. Mr. Squella has worked as a sports commentator and writer for media such as La Tercera newspaper, the Cooperativa radio channel, UCV TV and radio and TV channels Canal 13 and TVN. He has also worked as Director of Chiledeportes’ High Performance Center (2001-2004), Coordinator of the High Performance National Technical Commission (2009-2010), Coordinator of Chile’s Olympic Plan (2011-2012) and as President of the National Anti-Doping Committee. Since December 2013, he has formed part of the Sports Ministry’s Physical Activity and Sports Division.
Changes in Undersecretaries and Regional Governments
The President of Chile has appointed Partido por la Democracia member Erich Schnake Walker as the new Undersecretary for Mining in replacement of Ignacio Moreno Fernández. She has also appointed Demócrata Cristiano party member Carlos Melo Riquelme as the new Transport Undersecretary, who takes over from Cristián Bowen Garfias.
She has also named Partido Radical party member, Karina Acevedo Auad as the new Regional Governor for Aysén, in replacement of Jorge Calderón Núñez. The President also appointed Partido Comunista party member Rubén Moraga Mamani as Governor of Tamarugal, Ericka Portilla Barrios, also a Partido Comunista party member, as Governor of Copiapó and Demócrata Cristiano party member Hernán Quezada Sepúlveda as Governor of Petorca.