Much could be said about the truckers' strike and the agreement reached with them, but there are two angles that cannot be avoided: its handling by the government and the context in which it occurred. Viewed with perspective, recognition should emerge of Minister Alvarado's political skill, which may not be evident at first glance but, if looked at closely, emerges in his track record, as effective as it is free of stridency. In economic terms, President Kast received a country with an effective fiscal deficit of 2.8 points of GDP; with structural unemployment approaching double digits; with a trend growth rate of 2%, reflecting a stagnation that has already lasted a decade; and with public debt that over the same period went from 21 points of GDP to practically 43 in the current year. As if all that were not enough, the USA's war with Iran caused the greatest oil price crisis of the last fifty years, and our mining production will experience, in 2026, the largest drop on record, fortunately with a price that mitigates the economic effect, but not the growth statistic, which is measured in tons produced and not in the revenue the activity generates. The concrete result is that, despite all these factors, 2026 will close with a deficit of 1.8 points of GDP; with our international risk rating stabilized —there was a real threat that it would fall, with disastrous effects— and with an unprecedented reactivation of investment. In this context, for the first time since 1990, Congress approved a bill that lowers taxes, reduces bureaucracy, and allows us to project that in 2027 we will have the best growth of the last ten years and, imperatively, the long-awaited rebound in employment. If at the beginning of the year someone had projected that, with the inherited situation plus the international oil crisis, the government would, by this date, have the economic room to respond to the demands of a truckers' strike without putting at risk the essential foundations for the country to grow again, they would simply have considered it impossible. For this reason, few things could be more short-sighted than analyzing this episode as a kind of confrontation between the political and economic leadership of the government. Minister Alvarado's political skill would have had no room to unfold without the results achieved by Minister Quiroz; and the latter would not have had the possibility of consolidating his changes without the handling of this crisis by his counterpart at the Interior Ministry. The government has problems and has made undeniable mistakes; ignoring them and minimizing their risks would be blindness, but in the Interior and Finance ministries it still has the strengths that are essential for the governability of any country; making the mistake of ignoring that their complementarity is fundamental could cause the failure of what is its greatest asset. It is better to remember this than to risk forgetting it. By Gonzalo Cordero, lawyerNEWSLETTEROpinionSaturday, AMTense ideas, opposing views, and clear analysis: elements to reveal the issues that divide opinions and will set the agenda. By subscribing you are accepting the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies of La Tercera.