Pepe Mujica praised Sebastián Piñera and opposed the Chilean Constitutional Convention: “I’m afraid it’s a bag of cats”

The former president of Uruguay, Pepe Mujica, reflected on the current political and social situation in Chile, in particular on the role of the body of the Constitutive Convention (CC) and expressed fears about how it would work.

Last Sunday, The CC began its process of drafting the new Chilean constitution, which must be voted on within one year by the 155 voters, among whom the majority are independent representatives with no political experience, after the two traditional Chilean coalitions had very poor election results.

Because of what happened before is that the Uruguayan politician evoked in an interview with the newspaper La Segunda the present and the future of the Chilean convention, where he underlined their fears that the Convention will become “a bag of cats, who want to solve all the difficulties of the Chilean people with a Constitution”.

For Pepe Mujica, a Constitution “It’s a program, with broad lines and objectives”, and that the Chilean constitutional process that began in November 2019 after the massive protests in Chile “It was a civilized and intelligent thing to give this exit to channel the crisis” but he also warned of the risks this can entail.

“A Constitution is a program, with broad lines and objectives, let’s not ask more of the Constitution! But it was a civilized and intelligent thing to give this way out to channel the crisis. Elsewhere a mess is created that (…) I don’t know, For example, this contradiction has Peru today, this Parliament of Peru, The coming government, I don’t know how it manages to govern with this Parliament, do it? ”Said the Uruguayan politician.

The former Uruguayan president also indicated that the constituents that make up the Chilean convention must have “a negotiated agreement and social policies can be maintained which temper contradictions ”.

“It is quite logical that have a real liberation of social order in the sense of responding to the most pressing emergencies, but maintaining the stability of the economy, and that Chile’s most economically powerful sectors understand that they have a responsibility to their people“Mujica added.

Praise to Piñera

On another side, Pepe Mujica also had words for the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera. “I respect him a lot, I think he’s a worthy manWith his way of thinking, he has the fault of being too rich and of belonging to a world that is too well-off, ”said Mujica.

Additionally, Mujica stated that Piñera “was not a reactionary president, who advances the people” but history “is not changed by chiefs, history is changed by Indian lineage”.

“Everyone is born where they belong. But he was not a reactionary president, to advance the people (…) But history is not changed by the leaders, history is changed by single file, leaders without single file are like generals without troops, nothing happens. The responsibility lies with the political organizations, ”Mujica said of the figure of Piñera.

Left-wing presidential protests and figures

At the start of the Chilean protests in October 2019, Mujica stressed that the massive national protests did not surprise him. which led to the start of the constitutional process a few days ago.

“There hasn’t been a week here that 3 or 4 Chileans haven’t come, a lot of university students, talking to me about plagues, because of the difficulties in paying for their studies, all that. And I realized that on the one hand Chile’s objective numbers were a phenomenon, in the context of Latin America, but that the numbers merged with the feelings of people below. I think he paid the price for not delivering on time “Mujica spoke about the Chilean protests.

Pepe Mujica too addressed the figure of left-wing candidates for the Chilean presidency, Gabriel Boric and Daniel Jadue, who will have to compete in a primary in July, for one of them to reach the presidential election in November of this year.

“The left must join the center everywhere, because the center is the majority. And this fight is fixed in who takes the center. But if I am a lot of ‘blah blah’ and create the navel of the world, I move away from the center. The center is hesitant and leans to one side or the other. And the eternal problem of the left is the lack of unity, ”concluded Mujica.

KEEP READING: