Chile: the challenges of the two new presidents of the Constituent Assembly

Audio 7:30 p.m.

Maria Elisa Quinteros (left) alongside Elisa Loncon (center) and Jaime Bassa, after her election as head of the Constituent Assembly, January 5, 2022. © JAVIER TORRES/AFP

By: Mikaël Ponge Follow |

Mikael Ponge Follow

3 mins

Halfway through its work, the Constituent Assembly elected last year (2021) chose, at the beginning of January 2022, a new president and new vice-presidents.

New little-known faces, like the political renewal that has taken place in Chile.

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The renewal at the head of this Constituent Assembly, responsible for drafting a new fundamental law to replace that inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship, was planned but the elected officials had difficulty in agreeing. It took nine votes and more than 20 hours of debates and negotiations, on January 4 and 5, 2022, to finally achieve the election of Maria Elisa Quinteros as head of the Constituent Assembly. Feminist, ecologist, leftist, this public health researcher entered the hemicycle last year (2021) thanks to the support of neighborhood assemblies in her region. She therefore replaces linguist Elisa Loncon, a member of the indigenous Mapuche people. And she will be supported by a young center-left rural doctor, Gaspar Dominguez, elected vice-president.Both were little known to the general public before the beginning of January 2022. But they represent in several ways the renewal of the political class observed during the election of the Constituent Assembly. They are under 40, are not active in any political party, and live outside Santiago.

Haiti: multiplication of political agreements for a way out of the crisis

February 7, 2022 promises to be a fateful date in Haiti.

After the controversy last year (2021) around the end of the mandate of the assassinated President Moïse, many see February 7 as the deadline for Ariel Henry, the Prime Minister at the head of the country since last summer (2021) .

Last weekend, organizations in the diaspora chose the economist Fritz Alphonse Jean as president of the transition, who himself ran for the collegial presidency proposed by the consensus reached between the agreement of Montana and the National Memorandum of Understanding.

A myriad of proposals deciphered by Gotson Pierre, editor-in-chief of the

, which tells us that the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, yesterday (January 17, 2022) renewed his call for dialogue while reaffirming his position.

In a tweet, he writes

Another journalist killed in Mexico

Collaborator of several Mexican publications, photographer Margarito Martinez was killed on Monday January 17, 2022 near his home in Tijuana, a border town with the United States.

The photographer, who specializes in police affairs, was the target of "an assault with a firearm", according to the press release from the regional ministry.

Meanwhile, in the state of Veracruz, the State Commission for the Protection of Journalists asked the state's General Prosecutor's Office to implement the "protocol for the investigation of crimes against freedom of expression" after the homicide of José Luis Gamboa, stabbed on January 10, 2022 in the port of Veracruz.

His body was not identified until January 14 by his family.

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On the same subject

Chile: a feminist epidemiologist at the head of the Constituent Assembly

Assassination of the Haitian president: the US Congress orders the opening of an investigation

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