The Chilean Congress has rejected this Wednesday the constitutional accusation presented by the opposition against Marco Antonio Ávila, Minister of Education of the left-wing president Gabriel Boric. A series of homophobic statements against the head of the portfolio reduced support for the libel from the most moderate benches. The traditional right and the extreme right voted en bloc in favor of removing the Secretary of State for infringing the preferential right of parents to educate their children and failing to fulfill their responsibilities to address the “deep educational crisis.” With 78 votes against and 69 in favor, the libel was dismissed in the Chamber of Deputies. In four of the seven chapters of the accusation, references were made to gender policies or sexual education.
The accusation presented by 10 conservative parliamentarians took flight in Congress until one of those invited to testify before the commission was Marcela Aranda, director of the Christian Legislative Observatory. The exporter of the so-called Liberty Bus, brought to Chile in 2017 by the ultra-Catholic Spanish organization Hazte Oír, said in her exhibition: “Her LGTBIQ + activism [el del ministro] and his condition has exceeded the limit of the private”. Aranda attended the commission in the quota of guests from the traditional right-wing party, Renovación Nacional (RN). His statements, classified as homophobic by La Moneda and LGTBIQ+ organizations, pushed back the congressmen from Evópoli (center-right) and Democracia Cristiana (center-left party that is not part of the Government), who were evaluating whether to vote in favor of dismissing the Minister Avila. The vote against both formations was key to the triumph of the ruling party.
The constitutional accusation against the Minister of Education and professor Marco Avila (the fourth that the right has presented in less than a year and a half of government) has been rejected. The lack of legal support and his homophobic character were evident. Justice and reason have triumphed.
—Gabriel Boric Font (@GabrielBoric) July 12, 2023
Deputy Diego Schalper, general secretary of RN, described Evópoli’s decision as “a stab to the heart of Chile Let’s go [la coalición que agrupa a los tres partidos de la derecha]”. “Frankly, it was never in our forecasts that the Education Minister’s lifeline would come from them,” he added. The head of the Evópoli bench, Francisco Undurraga, argued that “despite the very poor management of Minister Ávila, the libel presented by the legislators does not legally allow it to be approved.” From the Christian Democracy they explained that after reviewing all the background, they concluded that there was no merit to support it.
The seven chapters of the accusation included the delay in the delivery of the results of the 2022 Education Quality Measurement System (Simce) test, -the worst in the last decade-, absenteeism and school desertion ( more than 50,000 students dropped out of the education system between 2021 and 2022), infrastructure problems and deterioration of educational quality. Also the breach of the role of supervision of the National Board of School Aid and Scholarships (Junaeb) for alleged irregularities in the funds for school feeding programs.
This is the fourth constitutional accusation presented by the opposition that fails in its attempt to dismiss and disqualify from holding public office for a period of five years a current or former member of the Boric Administration. The result of the vote is a respite for the ruling party, which is in the midst of a crisis due to the so-called Agreements Case, due to the transfer of millionaire State funds to non-profit foundations linked to the Democratic Revolution (RD), the party of Avila. The political formation is one of the most important of the Broad Front, the coalition of the Chilean president, and whose founder and leader is the Minister of Social Development, Giorgio Jackson, from whom several right-wing parliamentarians have demanded his resignation.
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