Wave of Departures Continues in Kast’s Government: 53 Officials Have Left, 43 Are Regional Secretaries

Original article: Sigue la oleada de salidas en el Gobierno de Kast: ya son 53 autoridades fuera y 43 son seremis

Following the request for the resignation of David Plaza, who served as the regional ministerial secretary (seremi) of Public Works in La Araucanía, the government led by José Antonio Kast has seen a total of 53 officials resign in nearly seven months. Of this number, 43 have been seremi departures.

As reported by ADN, the reasons for Plaza’s resignation remain unknown, as does who will take over his role.

Meanwhile, Temuco Diario noted that his departure comes amid criticisms over the condition of roads and routes in the region, particularly due to deterioration caused by storm systems. It was reported that local authorities and leaders from various municipalities expressed concerns regarding the response to traffic emergencies and the presence of the authority on the ground.

David Plaza Neira, a commercial engineer and risk prevention engineer, joined the Seremi of Public Works in March and became the fifth seremi to leave the position in La Araucanía. Previous resignations include José Bravo (Health), Mario Sepúlveda (Public Safety), Francisco Farías (Labor), and Patrick Dungan (Energy).

53 Officials Departed from Kast’s Government

According to the platform Renuncia Kast, in just seven months, 43 seremi, three ministers, six undersecretaries, and one presidential delegate have left their positions within the far-right president’s administration.

This site includes «resignations, removals, position changes, and unconfirmed appointments,» with each case linked to a news source, allowing users to «create their own count» filtered by position, region, or ministry.

The resulting average is one departure every four days of governance, a figure that illustrates the constant turnover of officials in the executive branch. The count also tracks the time without a new departure: at the close of this update, only 13 hours and 31 minutes had passed since the resignation of the seremi of Public Works of La Araucanía.

According to Renuncia Kast, the most recent recorded resignation was from the seremi of Economy in O’Higgins, Juan Carlos Meléndez, whose departure was requested by the government «after a negative evaluation of his performance, amidst high unemployment figures in the region,» according to press sources like Radio Bravo Rengo.

Previously, there was the case of Fabián Páez, seremi of Energy in Coquimbo, who left for «not meeting the academic requirements needed for the position»; and José Bravo, seremi of Health in La Araucanía, who was dismissed after «comments deemed insensitive in the context of the Pitrufquén tragedy.»

Among the most common reasons for official departures are cases where individuals had to resign after testing positive for drugs, while others did not meet the required academic or professional qualifications or became embroiled in controversies due to content of messages posted on social media.

*Featured image: Mediabanco.