Kast questions Casen figures, sparks opposition criticism, and Biminister Alvarado comes out to clarify his statements

This Monday at La Moneda, during his usual press briefing, the Deputy Minister of the Interior of Segegob, Claudio Alvarado, had to respond to the new criticism made during the day by President José Antonio Kast regarding the poverty figures in Chile from the latest National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (Casen, 2024), comments that unleashed a wave of reproaches from authorities of the previous government, from former President Gabriel Boric. The head of the cabinet tried to clarify the President's statements, who just hours earlier had stated—in an interview with Tele13 Radio—that "it was Jorge Quiroz himself who clarified that there was an error in the measurement," referring to a time during Boric's administration when he pointed to a reduction in poverty from 20.5% to 17.3%. "The numbers given were not accurate because the parameters for measurement were excluding some," Kast insisted, who, when asked if he was questioning the figures of the latest Casen, reaffirmed: "Yes, of course." Despite the President explicitly stating that he was questioning the Casen figures, Alvarado tried to clarify Kast's remarks and assured: "There is no questioning of the data or the figures here. The Casen survey is technically constructed, many people participate, and whenever there is a modification in the parameters, it is studied and analyzed thoroughly." He added: "What the President has said is that it has been demonstrated in the latest Casen that the reduction in poverty is mainly explained by the application of subsidies as a public policy." Previously, the Deputy Minister of the Interior and Segegob stated that "there is no need to misinterpret the President's words. He said very simply that in recent years, the importance of subsidies has increased, which are public policies in reducing poverty." To support his criticism, Kast based himself on an interview given to El Líbero by his current Minister of Finance, Jorge Quiroz, in 2023. On that occasion, the economist accused a "lack of criteria" in the measurement and even suggested that Cepal should "give explanations." Alvarado's attempt to clarify Kast's criticism did not go unnoticed among those who held positions of power in Boric's government. For example, former Minister of Social Development Giorgio Jackson emphasized the President's criticism, his citation of Quiroz, and the contrast with the subsequent statements of the head of the cabinet. During the day, former Ministers of the Interior Álvaro Elizalde and Carolina Tohá; former Minister of Finance Nicolás Grau; and former Minister of Social Development Javiera Toro also responded to the controversy. Tohá, for example, stated that "having the President of the Republic, who is the highest authority in the country today, saying that Casen's data are false, that it is not true that poverty has decreased, that this is inflated with subsidies (...). Subsidies are not lies; subsidies are public policies to address injustices, inequalities, and lack of opportunities present in society." Elizalde, meanwhile, argued that "questioning Casen's results is irresponsible." Nicolás Grau used the same term, adding that it was a matter of "ignorance. (...). Never before has a President done something like this." "It is very serious that the President continues to discredit the country's statistical institutional framework," emphasized Javiera Toro. It was not only Boric's former ministers who spoke out. The opposition leaders also did not overlook the controversy. During the usual meeting that gathers party leaders, secretaries-general, and parliamentary chiefs, many took the opportunity to criticize Kast. After this meeting, the leader of the Liberal Party, Juan Carlos Urzúa, for example, accused that "when a government wants to demonstrate a political thesis by replacing the consistency of the data, that is lying to the country." From the right, until the end of this edition, the only critical voice towards the President was Sebastián Piñera's former government spokesperson, Karla Rubilar (RN). "He is mistaken in questioning the #CASEN. One thing is discussing social policy and another is the instrument that measures it. For over 30 years, CASEN has allowed #Chile to know and analyze its socioeconomic reality with credibility. Let's protect that institutional framework," Rubilar posted on her social media.