Ministry of the Interior (Chile)

The Ministry of the Interior ( _es. Ministerio del Interior) is the cabinet-level administrative office in charge of "maintaining public order, security and social peace" within Chile. It is also charged with planning, directing, coordinating, executing, controlling and informing the domestic policies formulated by the President of Chile. As responsible for local government, the minister supervises all non-elected regional authorities.

The present Minister of the Interior is Edmundo Perez Yoma (2007). His Under-secretary of the Interior is Felipe Harboe and the Under-secretary of Regional Development is Ms Claudia Serrano. In the absence (because of travel, death or other impediment) of the President of Chile, the Minister of the Interior becomes Vice-President.

History

During the first days of the independence movements, the senior "secretary" of the respective Junta would function as the "Secretary of Government". The office officially first came to be on October 27, 1812, when it was one of the two "secretariats" created by the Constitutional Norms approved on that date. It was then named "Secretariat of the Interior". It was abolished in 1814 by the Spanish authorities when, after the Battle of Rancagua, they re-asserted royal power.

In 1818, after independence, the secretariat was re-established, but this time as a "Ministry of Government" (1817-1818) later renamed "Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs" (1829-1871). During this period, its functions normally subsumed the future Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was separated as an independent government administration in 1871. This ministry has undergone several reorganizations during its long history, reflected in its different names:

*Ministry of Government (1817-1818)
*Ministry of Government and Foreign Affairs (1818-1829)
*Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs (1829-1871)
*Ministry of the Interior (1871 - present)

The function of chief of government was un-officially assumed by the Minister of the Interior (1891-1925).

Titulars

"Patria Vieja" period

Ministers of the Interior

Additional information

ee also

*Foreign relations of Chile
*Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile

ources

* cite book
author = República de Chile
chapter = VI. Poder Ejecutivo - Nómina de Gobernantes, Presidentes y Ministros desde la Independencia.
title = Manual del Senado. 1810-1942
year = 1942
publisher = Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Universitaria
url = http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0027508.pdf
language = Spanish es
* cite book
author = Valencia Avaria, Luis
title = Anales de la República: textos constitucionales de Chile y registro de los ciudadanos que han integrado los poderes ejecutivo y legislativo desde 1810
year = 1986
publisher = Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello
edition = 2ª edición
language = Spanish es

External links

* [http://www.interior.cl Official Website of the Ministry of the Interior of Chile] es