El Ciudadano
The board of the National Federation of Associations of the Ministry of the Interior, Public Security, and Related Services (Fenaminsa) criticized the proposal from Catalina San Martín, the mayor of Las Condes and vice president of the Association of Municipalities of Chile (Amuch), to eliminate the Subdere, or Undersecretariat of Regional and Administrative Development, in order to redirect its resources «directly» to municipalities.
According to national media reports, San Martín suggested that a «reduced» group of officials could «stay on» at the Ministry of the Interior «to oversee the use of those funds and reduce the bureaucracy associated with municipal applications.»
In response, Fenaminsa expressed its solidarity «with our members from that undersecretariat, who were unjustly disqualified by the vice president of Amuch.»
They further reminded that «the Subdere budget encompasses the execution of 26 programs, primarily related to support for municipalities and regional governments. According to the institutional strategic definitions, these programs address objectives of undeniable public value, which no other service tackles with the same specificity.»
«Strengthening equitable territorial development and decentralization; increasing the technical and institutional capacities of subnational governments; and reducing gaps in communal and regional public infrastructure» were cited as examples of the aforementioned objectives.
«These goals are directly related to a vision of the country that prioritizes the most disadvantaged territories, from a perspective of integral development. Lacking this perspective, as well as the type of public management that supports it, may seem like a popular solution in the short term, but it carries very high risks: exacerbating territorial inequalities, weakening the state’s capacities, and undermining the governance of decentralization processes,» warned Fenaminsa.
In this context, they highlighted data published by the Council for Transparency in its 2026 evaluation of public agencies regarding Active Transparency and Right to Access Information, where municipalities ranked last, with a compliance level of 52%. For Fenaminsa, this clearly illustrates the persistent management problems observed in the country’s municipalities.
«In the same ranking, the central state scores 85% compliance, which reveals a significant room for improvement that needs to be addressed through institutional strengthening programs,» the officials stated.
No to Cuts by Kast-Quiroz
In this framework, the union criticized the tax reform proposed by Kast’s government, labeling it as «a real problem» that will lead to a lack of resources in municipalities, warning that the proposal to eliminate Subdere amounts to «robbing Peter to pay Paul.»
«The resources of Subdere are already allocated to the territories that need them the most. Destroying the governance of decentralization processes weakens a key institution for planning, coordinating, and supporting territorial development,» they emphasized.
«We are convinced that it is neither suitable nor acceptable to cut resources to municipalities, as they are indeed the first line of service to citizens. The Government must make necessary efforts to restore those resources, and the best way to do so is to eliminate from the tax reform bill those aspects that will lead to lower tax revenue,» they reiterated.
Read the full statement below:
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