MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 01:39 UTC
“I did not expect to carry out this cabinet reshuffle, it was not what I had planned for this stage,” Kast said
Chilean President José Antonio Kast on Tuesday carried out the first cabinet reshuffle of his administration and removed from their posts the Security Minister, Trinidad Steinert, and the Government Spokesperson, Mara Sedini, in a reorganization that amounts to the fastest ministerial adjustment in Chile since the return to democracy in 1990. The decision comes just over two months after the inauguration of the far-right president, against a backdrop of falling presidential approval to around 40% and an increase in public disapproval to 60%.
“I did not expect to carry out this cabinet reshuffle, it was not what I had planned for this stage, but, given the sense of urgency in our country and the need to respond to the demands for which we were elected, I have decided to make this adjustment,” Kast said when announcing the changes. Both ministers had been criticized from the left-wing opposition and from within the ruling coalition itself, an alliance between the president's Republican Party and traditional right-wing sectors. The Security portfolio will be taken on by the outgoing Public Works minister, Martín Arrau, while Interior Minister Claudio Alvarado will simultaneously serve as official spokesperson, concentrating two of the most strategic areas of the executive. The Transport Minister, Louis de Grange, will manage the Public Works portfolio in parallel.
