Government appoints Alejandra Morales Aguirre as presidential delegate in Chañaral

The Ministry of the Interior appointed Alejandra Morales Aguirre as Provincial Presidential Delegate of Chañaral, in the Atacama Region, through decree No. 139, signed on September 4, 2026, and published in the Official Gazette No. 44,585 on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The appointment was arranged after the position held by Sebastián Alejandro Urrejola Aranda, who did not submit his resignation, was declared vacant. The Comptroller General of the Republic processed the act with a qualification: it objected to the 40% superior responsibility allowance set in the decree.

An appointment with immediate effect

The decree, signed by the President of the Republic, José Antonio Kast Rist, and by the Minister of the Interior, Claudio Alvarado Andrade, provides for the appointment “as of this date,” meaning from September 4, 2026, in grade 3° EUS of the Interior Government Service scale.

The text adds that the appointee “for urgent reasons of good service, must assume her functions without waiting for the full processing of this decree.” The measure was transcribed by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Máximo Pavez Cantillano.

The corresponding expenditure is charged to item 21.01.001 of the current budget of the Interior Government Service.

The constitutional framework and the previous vacancy

The Executive based the decision on Article 32 No. 7 of the Political Constitution of the Republic, which reserves for the President the authority to appoint and remove provincial presidential delegates, and on Article 116, which defines the provincial presidential delegation as a territorially decentralized body of the regional presidential delegate. Law No. 19,175, the organic constitutional law on Regional Government and Administration, assigns these authorities the supervision of the public services operating in the province.

The background of the case consists of two decrees from the Ministry of the Interior:

• Supreme Decree No. 53, of 2026, which appointed Sebastián Alejandro Urrejola Aranda to the same position, grade 3° EUS.
• Supreme Decree No. 132, of 2026, which declared the position vacant as of August 16, 2026, because the then-holder had not submitted his resignation.

The Comptroller’s Office specified that this vacancy “took place as of August 17, 2026, and not the 16th of said month, as erroneously stated in numeral 5 of the preamble.” The oversight body took note of decree No. 132 on October 1, 2026.

Comptroller’s Office objects to the 40% allowance

Through official letter No. OF199044/2026, dated October 20, 2026, and signed by Alejandro Gonzalo Riquelme Montecinos, head of the Public Function Division, the Comptroller General of the Republic processed the appointment as it was deemed to be in accordance with the law, but formulated a specific objection.

The body pointed out that the second numeral of the decree granted the appointee a 40% senior responsibility allowance, a benefit that is not applicable: Resolution No. 5, dated September 11, 2024, from the Commission for the Fixing of Remunerations under Article 38 bis of the Constitution, established a single gross remuneration for provincial presidential delegates for the presidential period that began on March 11, 2026.

According to that framework, the only additional benefits maintained are the per diem, representation expenses, the zone allowance, and the extreme zone allowance. “Granting the benefit provided for in the second numeral is not applicable,” concluded the official letter, which also relies on Instruction No. IN8, of 2026, from the Comptroller’s Office itself.

What it implies for the province

Chañaral is one of the three provinces of the Atacama Region, with the presence of public services linked to mining, artisanal fishing, health, and emergencies, whose territorial coordination falls under the provincial presidential delegation. With decree 139, a vacancy that extended from mid-August until the official review in October is resolved, and the new authority assumes office with the single gross remuneration fixed by the Article 38 bis system.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,585, October 28, 2026, Section I, General Norms, pp. 1-3 (official reference: CVE 2891547).