Christian Democrat Deputies call on Velasco to raise pension benefits

SANTIAGO. -  New friction has developed between Christian Democratic Party (DC) deputies and the minister of Finance, Andrés Velasco, after an announcement to end the 7% discount on contribution fees for pensioners was not included in President Bachelet´s speech yesterday.

Statements made by Deputy Pablo Lorenzini, who assured that “Minister Velasco´s stubbornness is behind” the decision, were backed by leaders of the DC board, Deputies Eduardo Saffirio and Gonzalo Duarte, who added, “we have been requesting this measure for 5 years”.

Lorenzini asserted that “this is due to the stubbornness of Velasco, who doesn’t like to be defeated and who doesn’t listen to serious proposals aimed at resolving a difficult situation for a large portion of the population amid price hikes and economic depression; this time the proposal was directly aimed at helping pensioners and we had even gained the support of all the parties”.