When it rains, it pours. That is the feeling that has kept the ruling party discouraged during the last week. When La Moneda, the coalition parties, and the parliamentarians aligned with it were struggling to mitigate the crisis opened by Minister Fernando Rabat when he signed the decrees reducing the sentences of pedophiles, two new fronts opened up for the bloc.
On Tuesday, the truckers' strike began, with partial blockades between the regions of Arica and Parinacota and La Araucanía. That same day, the leaders of the mobilizations warned that "we do not rule out that they will become more radical."
The government took the challenge. Since then, Deputy Minister Claudio Alvarado led the efforts to have the mobilizations lifted as soon as possible. In that scenario, the agreement reached this Thursday between the government and the largest unions was a relief.
However, not all groups lifted the mobilization. On Friday morning, independent truckers and motorists from the No+TAG movement set up camp on Route 68, near Ciudad de los Valles in Pudahuel.
The agreement, nonetheless, left a bitter taste: La Moneda had to ideologically concede by intervening in the market with the new adjustments it will make to Mepco and disburse more money than it had budgeted, in a complex economic context.
Nervousness prevails in the ruling party. At 10:30 PM this Friday, the President...
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When it rains, it pours. That is the feeling that has kept the ruling party discouraged over the last week. When La Moneda, the alliance parties, and their aligned parliamentarians struggled to try and mitigate the crisis opened by Minister Fernando Rabat by signing the decrees that reduced the sentences of pedophiles, two new fronts opened up for the bloc. On Tuesday, the truckers' strike began, with partial blockages between the regions of Arica and Parinacota and La Araucanía. That same day, the leaders of the mobilizations warned that "we do not rule out that they will become more radical." The government took the bait. Since then, Deputy Minister Claudio Alvarado led efforts to have the mobilizations lifted as soon as possible. In this scenario, the agreement that the government reached with the largest unions this Thursday was a relief. 12/11/2026 - MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR CLAUDIO ALVARADO. Photo: Mario Tellez MARIO TELLEZ However, not all groups lifted the mobilization. On Friday morning, in fact, independent truckers and motorists from the No+TAG movement set up camp on Route 68, near Ciudad de los Valles in Pudahuel. On Friday morning, the government spokesperson, Gonzalo Arenas, referred to these demonstrations. "According to the latest police report, more than two-thirds of the trucks had already left the route. A minority of one-third remained in very specific places (...). We hope that during the day the bases begin to talk to their leaders and see and weigh the great benefits of this agreement. If that does not happen and there are some who want to obstruct public roads, of course, all the rigor of the law will be applied as appropriate," he stated. The agreement, nonetheless, left a bitter taste: La Moneda had to ideologically yield by intervening in the market with the new adjustments that will be made to Mepco and disburse more money than it had budgeted, in a complex economic context. In this context, nervousness prevails in the ruling party. At 10:30 PM this Friday, President José Antonio Kast will board a plane that will take him to Asia. This is his first tour on the continent, which will include visits to Vietnam, Japan, and the APEC summit in China. All in line with an agenda focused on strengthening commercial ties. Thus, the cabinet will have to focus on monitoring this new front while the President is out of the country. That, however, is only the third act of a total crisis. On Wednesday of this week, for the first time, the Minister of Finance, Jorge Quiroz, acknowledged that Chile is in "technical recession." "It can technically be called a recession, but basically the economy has faced some supply shocks this year, mainly due to the sharp drop in copper production," Quiroz told Bloomberg. In that vein, the Secretary of State appealed to the fact that "if you observe the non-copper sector of the economy, you can see strong growth." NOVEMBER 11, 2026 MINISTER OF FINANCE, JORGE QUIROZ. PHOTO: DEDVI MISSENE Dedvi Missene Kast's main agenda—economic recovery—is struck by this recognition; it was also one of his most visible campaign banners, in which he characterized himself as extremely tough on the administration of Gabriel Boric for its handling of this area. "When you look at what they left us, there is no figure where they can say they did it well," Kast affirmed in April of this year, referring to the Boric government. "How did they do in employment? A disaster. How did they do in growth? A disaster. How did they do in education? A disaster. How did they do in health? A disaster," he added on that occasion. The opposition took advantage of Quiroz's statements to attribute the recession to the government's economic management. Senator Daniella Cicardini and Deputy Daniel Manouchehri, both from the Socialist Party, demanded the resignation of the Minister of Finance for this reason. "Minister Quiroz should have left this post a while ago, and today we are seeing the consequences," said the Coquimbo representative. That is not all. In parallel, the crisis triggered by Rabat remains latent. Although the ruling party parties have resigned themselves to the fact that President Kast will not remove the Minister of Justice and Human Rights in the short term, the constitutional accusation filed by the left this Thursday puts pressure on the bloc and La Moneda once again. Valparaíso, November 9, 2026. Press briefing of the Minister of Justice, Fernando Rabat, in the Senate. Photo: Sebastián Cisternas/Aton Chile SEBASTIAN CISTERNAS/ ATON CHILE The Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and National Renewal (RN) have tried to align their parliamentarians and avoid walkouts when voting on the indictment. However, from the deputy benches of both groups, it is not ruled out that there will be some. The eyes are on Hotuiti Teao, who stated that he would vote in favor. In conversation with 24 Horas, the government spokesperson, Gonzalo Arenas, criticized the delay in the opposition's filing of the document. Regarding the content of the accusation, he assured that "I believe they made a text, as far as I know, quite light, which does not constitute any of the grounds for a constitutional accusation." Kast is leaving the country not only with these crises open, but also with a fractured alliance. Relations within the ruling party have eroded deeply with the Rabat crisis, since UDI and RN have requested the minister's resignation, while the Republican Party has labeled the Chile Vamos parliamentarians who have fallen into that conduct as "disloyal." The processing of the budget law only deepened that state. On Thursday night, RN deputies questioned the climate of confrontation in the Chamber and called on the ruling party to avoid provocations. This came after a harsh exchange between the head of that bench, Diego Schalper, and his counterpart in the Republicans, Benjamín Moreno. The RN militant questioned the tone of the interventions of his Republican allies, who spent this week immersed in discussions with the left. The Vice President of the Chamber, Ximena Ossandón (also RN), said that Cristián Araya's actions were "pathetic," and he announced that he would take her to the ethics committee for his remarks. On Friday morning, Arenas referred to this atmosphere of tension. "I would recommend that the younger ones have more calm. What I liked when I was younger. It is important that, hopefully, a dialogue is held, a dialogue that is in good faith, which is the main thing in these types of proceedings," said the spokesperson. In the sector, despite the resignation and discomfort over Kast's resistance to a major adjustment in his teams, they insist that there must be a change in the government's political design and stop making self-defeating moves. This feeling was conveyed to them this Tuesday, at the meeting held in Cerro Castillo, where all presidents of Chile Vamos and the Republican Party met with the Mandatary.