After heated clash between Representatives Rodríguez and Pizarro: parliamentary committees call for safeguarding the climate of debate and protecting the prestige of Congress

Amid the intense debate generated by the Chamber of Deputies' discussion of the 2027 Budget Bill, where even harsh clashes and recriminations have occurred between ruling-party and opposition legislators, the parliamentary committees issued a statement in which they unanimously called for preserving the climate of debate. This came after a strong altercation recorded during the day between Republican deputy Javiera Rodriguez and her Communist counterpart Lorena Pizarro, after the former — during the discussion of the Justice and Human Rights budget item — accused the opposition of being "merchants of other people's pain." "It's very easy to defend human rights when it serves your political narrative, that's why they are merchants of other people's pain," said Deputy Rodriguez, which provoked Pizarro's anger; she called for the rules to be enforced and called Rodriguez a "harridan." "I am still searching for my father, and many of us are still searching. So I only ask that certain speeches not be allowed, because that is a denialist speech that insults and is full of hate. I only ask that in this chamber we have a minimum line that cannot be crossed," added the PC legislator. After a pause in the session caused precisely by the clash, it was decided that the parliamentary committees would debate the situation. And this afternoon, while the Chamber was discussing the Public Works budget item, the president of the body, Jorge Alessandri (UDI), took a moment to read a statement issued precisely by the parliamentary committees. "Unanimously, the committees have authorized the following statement," Alessandri began by saying. In the text, the committees "reaffirm that debate on the floor must be conducted with full respect for the dignity of all its members, whatever their political position." They add that "the confrontation of ideas, however intense, is inherent to democratic life, and the freedom of expression of parliamentarians must always be safeguarded, without prejudice to the fact that its exercise recognizes certain limits." In this context, the committees add that they "reject any expression that resorts to personal disparagement or that uses a parliamentarian's personal or family history as an instrument of confrontation." Likewise, they "recognize that safeguarding the climate of debate is a responsibility shared by all caucuses and call on each of them to actively contribute to its care, on the understanding that the prestige of the National Congress before the citizenry depends on the example we, its members, set in the exercise of our duties." Finally, they emphasized that "the rules of the body require them (the deputies), as a duty of conduct, to act with fraternity toward their colleagues." "This means carefully abstaining from any malicious or injurious expression and from allusions to their personal backgrounds," they stated, after which they reminded legislators that "any conduct that violates the foregoing will be sanctioned in accordance with the rules of the Chamber."