At the halfway point of his Administration, President Gabriel Boric projects that six women from the left will be the faces of the change once his term ends in 2026: the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá;
the Government spokesperson, Camila Vallejo;
the head of Labor, Jeannette Jara;
his former Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches;
and deputies Daniella Cardini and Karol Cariola.
The president revealed his bets in an interview last Sunday with EL PAÍS, when he was asked if the right is the one with the best chance of succeeding him, and that, for the moment, Michelle Bachelet appears as the best valued figure on the left.
“There are other figures who are going to make people talk in politics and who are going to make a contribution in the front row,” he responded about the favoritism towards the former president, with whom he has great harmony.
“There is a replacement,” he added.
Who are those six women and what are they up to?
Camila Vallejo, his traveling companion
Camila Vallejo, on January 26.Fernanda Requena
The 35-year-old communist activist has been a spokesperson for the Government since Boric arrived in La Moneda in March 2022. She is one of the president's main traveling companions since they led together the university protests of 2011 and 2012, demanding free education and quality.
In fact, it was Boric who succeeded her as president of the Federation of Students of the University of Chile, FECh.
In 2014, at less than 30 years old, Boric and Vallejo came to Congress and together with other young politicians formed the so-called
student caucus
in the Chamber of Deputies.
After two terms as a deputy – eight years – Vallejo had ruled out running again and planned to continue studying and doing politics from other spaces.
Boric's victory in the presidential elections changed her plans and as a minister according to the political committee, on the front line of decision-making, for two years.
With 4% of the preferences, Vallejo appears as the fourth presidential figure of the Cadem pollster in February.
She also enjoys being the minister that Chileans know the most (92%).
39% of them approve of her management, while 60% reject it, one of the highest rates among ministers.
Carolina Tohá, the strong face of the center-left
Carolina Tohá, in November 2022. Cristian Soto Quiroz
Interior Minister Carolina Tohá, 58, assumed the position of greatest power in Boric's Cabinet, equivalent to that of a chief of ministers, in September 2022, after the resounding failure of the first constitutional process, led by the most left-wing. hard.
The political scientist and academic is the daughter of José Tohá, who held the same position that he holds today during the presidency of Salvador Allende.
Her father was murdered in 1974 after Pinochet's military coup.
Tohá is a strong figure of the ex-Concertación, the old center-left.
She is a member of the Party for Democracy (PPD), a political force of which she was its first female president, between 2010 and 2012. She has been secretary of the Committee of Social Ministers of the Government of President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1995-1997) and Minister during the first Administration of Michelle Bachelet (between March and December 2009).
In 2012 she became the first mayor of the municipality of Santiago.
She leads the Interior Ministry, in charge of national security, the main concern of Chileans.
45% of Chileans approve of her management and 53% disapprove, according to the latest Cadem survey.
Tohá does not like to talk about a possible candidacy, but in her sector they know that she would be a strong bet for the presidential election in 2025.
Jeannette Jara, the former union leader in charge of Labor
Jeannette Jara, in November 2022.sofia yanjari
The 49-year-old public administrator, lawyer and former union leader has led the Ministry of Labor since the first day of Boric's government.
She began her political life at the age of 15, when she joined the Communist Youth.
Ten years later, she became a member of the party of which she was a member of its central committee.
Her name to join Boric's Cabinet was promoted by Government spokesperson, Camila Vallejo.
She had already worked at La Moneda, during the second Government of Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018), when she was undersecretary of the Social Security portfolio.
In the current Administration, she carried out the 40-hour work week project last year, which gave her a boost in popularity.
She is now leading the negotiations so that the pension reform, a debt that Chile has been carrying for more than 10 years, sees the light, but the challenge is huge.
Her strategy is to get out of the debate about the future of the Pension Fund Administrators (AFPs) industry and focus on low retirements and creating a system that ensures a real social security system for pensioners.
Izkia Siches, the companion who had to let go
Izkia Siches, in May 2022. Cristian Soto Quiroz
The 38-year-old doctor, originally from Arica, in the extreme north of Chile, was a leader of the students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile in the protests 10 years ago.
She was a very relevant figure in the presidential second round campaign to win over the northern electorate, which she traveled with her a few-month-old daughter in her arms.
When Boric gave his victory speech, she was the only one Boric had on stage.
She was once a member of the Communist Party, but then she has not joined any party again.
In 2017 she became the first woman to head the trade association of the Medical College and she achieved high popularity in the pandemic, where she was very critical of the Government of Sebastián Piñera for its management of the health crisis.
Boric appointed her Minister of the Interior when she arrived at La Moneda, the first woman to hold the position, but she only lasted six months after making several serious mistakes that have been attributed to her inexperience.
Outside the Government, she returned to work at the Infectious Diseases Polyclinic and is now focused on obtaining the subspecialty of Infectious Diseases at the University of Chile.
She has no known plans to return to public life.
Daniella Cicardini, the northern deputy
Daniella Cicardini, in July 2018 in Valparaíso.CHRISTEL ANDLER C. (Interior Government CommissionCHILE - POLITICS - DANIELLA CICARDINI)
The socialist Daniella Cicardini, 36, is a marine biologist, feminist and representative for the northern region of Atacama, the town where she was born.
She has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2014. She holds office for the third consecutive term, after having been re-elected twice (2014-2018, 2018-2022 and 2022 to 2026).
In the middle of last year she was elected by her peers as second vice president of the Congressional board of directors.
She comes from a political family lineage.
She is the daughter of Maglio Cicardini, who was mayor of her native Copiapó from 2008 to 2016, and Magaly Milla, councilor of the same municipality between 2012 and 2016. During her 10 years in the Lower House she has participated in the Special Investigative Commissions on alleged exploitation irregular water in the Huasco River Basin and the administration and financial statements of the National Mining Company (ENAMI).
She is also in charge of the resources of the Reserved Copper Law for the reconstruction of areas affected in the regions of Antofagasta and Atacama by the bad weather front of 2015.
Karol Cariola, the replacement in the Communist Party
Karol Cariola, in September 2023. Cristian Soto Quiroz
The 36-year-old communist deputy was one of the leaders of the student mobilizations during the 2011 protests, along with Boric and Vallejo, with whom she shares a party.
That year she was elected General Secretary of the Communist Youth of Chile, becoming the second woman to hold the position after the historic Gladys Marín.
The nurse is one of the trunks of the Apruebo Dignidad pact, the coalition that makes up Boric's Broad Front and the Communist Party.
Member of the
student caucus
that debuted in Congress in 2014, she has been re-elected as a member of the Chamber of Deputies representing the Metropolitan Region on two occasions (2014-2018, 2018-2022 and 2022-2026), in representation of popular municipalities in the northern area of Santiago, such as Cerro Navia, Renca and Recoleta.
From Parliament she has promoted various joint initiatives with her fellow travelers, such as the project that establishes a maximum of 40 hours of work per week.
She is the only one of the four leaders of the student caucus who continues in Congress.
She has been an important figure of the new Chilean feminist wave and one of the main letters of the renewal of the Chilean PC.
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