The Biobío Presidential Delegation announced Alexander Nanjarí as the new regional education secretary on Wednesday, but the government backed out due to his old controversial tweets. Education Minister María Paz Arzola confirmed no decree has been signed. Official sources said the posts about age differences swayed the decision.
The Biobío Presidential Regional Delegation announced Alexander Nanjarí on Wednesday morning as the new regional ministerial secretary (seremi) for Education. A public administrator who graduated from Universidad de Concepción with a master's in Political Studies from Universidad de Los Andes, Nanjarí was presented alongside Mario Delannays for Environment. However, old tweets from Nanjarí, now deleted, resurfaced and sparked controversy. In one exchange, responding to whether '10 años de diferencia es un problema?' (10 years difference a problem?), he wrote '10 años no son nada' (10 years are nothing) and 'mucho mejor si es más joven JAJAJAJAJ' (much better if younger haha). To 'parece que se está convirtiendo en mi preferencia' (seems it's becoming my preference), he replied 'si hay madurez a pesar de la edad menor, eso es un 11/10' (if there's maturity despite younger age, that's 11/10). The exchange, deemed controversial for a public appointment, prompted the Executive to withdraw before formalizing. On Thursday, after the Consejo de Rectores at Universidad de Concepción, Education Minister María Paz Arzola told Radio Biobío: 'No hay un decreto firmado todavía, así que no hay la posibilidad de referirse a ningún nombre previamente' (No decree signed yet, so no possibility to refer to any name previously). She stressed a subrogate seremi is in place and a name will come only with a signed decree. Government sources told La Tercera the tweets led to the desist, aided by the unsigned decree. Ministry insiders blamed the delegation for a premature announcement, exposing the minister to a sensitive issue.
