Chilean government eases Senate timetable for controversial security reform

Chile’s government has given itself more time to negotiate a controversial constitutional security reform after acknowledging that the proposal does not currently have enough support in Congress.

José García Ruminot, minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, said the executive had changed the bill from the highest urgency to simple urgency. The measure will remain on the legislative agenda, but the Senate now has 30 days rather than 15 to discuss possible amendments.

"That is the timeframe we have on the immediate horizon, thirty days for legislative work to begin and for the process to develop in the Senate’s Constitution, Legislation and Justice Committee, where different viewpoints can be presented, debated and the necessary agreements built," García Ruminot told reporters.

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That is the timeframe we have on the immediate horizon, thirty days for legislative work to begin and for the process to develop in the Senate’s Constitution, Legislation and Justice Committee, where different viewpoints can be presented, debated and the necessary agreements built.

The bill entered the Senate on Aug. 17 with an expedited timetable, shortly before Congress began a week without sessions. It subsequently faced criticism from across the political spectrum and from specialists. The main dispute centers on a proposal allowing the president to declare a state of exception for eight months without first consulting Congress. Such a declaration could restrict freedom of movement, assembly and association, and permit communications to be intercepted by any means.

President José Antonio Kast said the proposed state of exception "is not negotiable" in response to calls for its removal, while adding that lawmakers could modify it during debate. The government wants negotiations to produce the 29 votes required for passage, avoiding the need to withdraw and resubmit the reform.

The proposal would also allow the executive to classify a group as a terrorist or organized-crime organization, based on a supporting report from the Public Prosecutor’s Office or National Security Council and a secret Senate vote. Kast has presented eight constitutional changes under the Agenda Against Organized Crime and Terrorism, alongside 19 legislative initiatives already before Congress and about 10 further proposals.

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is not negotiable