President José Antonio Kast designated former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle as Chile's ambassador in a special mission on an ad honorem basis. The Foreign Ministry highlighted his experience to strengthen bilateral and multilateral relations. Ruling party lawmakers praised the move while an opposition deputy criticized it.
The Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that the designation responds to the strategic importance the government assigns to strengthening bilateral and multilateral relations. Frei previously held the post from 2014 to 2022 under the governments of Michelle Bachelet and Sebastián Piñera.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Manuel José Ossandón called the decision “very accurate”. Senator Rojo Edwards said that “experience, trajectory and a vision of State” must prevail “over political differences”.
From the opposition, deputy Daniel Manouchehri criticized the appointment as “an ordinariness of political operation”. He added that the former president accepts a post from a government that vindicates a dictatorship that victimized his father.
