President appoints three Conadi counselors following March …

The President of the Republic, José Antonio Kast Rist, appointed Pamela Paco Chura, Carlos Patricio Llancaqueo Mellado, and Juan Lucas Aka-hanga Rapu Tuki as councilors of the National Council of the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (Conadi), under the presidential appointment quota of literal c) of article 41 of Law No. 19,253. The appointment was formalized in Supreme Decree No. 28, dated July 21, 2026, from the Ministry of Social Development and Family, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile No. 44,572, on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Section I, pages 1 and 2 (official reference: CVE 2882705).

The legal framework of the appointment

The administrative act is issued under article 32 No. 10 of the Political Constitution of the Republic and Title VI of Law No. 19,253, which creates Conadi as a functionally decentralized public service, with its own legal personality and assets, subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Social Development and Family. The regulation also invokes Law No. 18,575, Law No. 19,880, Law No. 20,530, and Resolution No. 36 of 2024 from the Comptroller General of the Republic, regarding the exemption from the toma de razón (legal review) process.

According to the decree, the councilors under literal c) “shall remain in their positions as long as they maintain the confidence of the authority that appointed them,” namely, the President of the Republic. The text adds that, for reasons of efficient service, the three appointees assumed their functions as of the date of the decree, without waiting for the full processing of the act.

The resignations that created the vacancies

Supreme Decree No. 28 is based on Supreme Decree No. 21 of 2026, from the same ministry, which accepted the resignations of three councilors appointed under the same presidential quota. The resignations became effective as of March 11, 2026:

Marianela Jopia Vega
Rangitea Leonera Hey Henríquez
Verónica Coñumil Quiñimil

The presidential decision to replace them was communicated to the Ministerial Legal Office via Memorandum No. 1106/2026, dated June 4, 2026, from the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Social Development and Family, which requested the drafting of the respective administrative act.

The three appointees

The first article of the decree identifies the new councilors of the Conadi National Council:

Pamela Paco Chura.
Carlos Patricio Llancaqueo Mellado.
Juan Lucas Aka-hanga Rapu Tuki.

The act bears the signatures of President José Antonio Kast Rist and the Minister of Social Development and Family, María Jesús Wulf Le May, and was transcribed by the Undersecretary of Social Services, Alejandro Fernández González.

A council of mixed composition

Article 41 of Law No. 19,253 establishes the composition of the superior body of Conadi:

The National Director of the corporation.
The undersecretaries or their representatives from the ministries of the General Secretariat of Government, Social Development and Family, Agriculture, Education, and National Assets.
Three counselors appointed by the President of the Republic (literal c).
Eight indigenous representatives appointed by the President of the Republic upon the proposal of communities and associations: four Mapuche, one Aymara, one Atacameño, one Rapa Nui, and one residing in an urban area of the national territory.

With these three appointments, the presidential confidence quota is completed—the block that the Executive directly controls within a council where the eight indigenous representatives are proposed by the communities themselves.

Impact

The appointment restores the operability of the presidential quota of the National Council of Conadi after nearly four months of vacancy and defines the internal balance of a key body for the execution of state policy toward indigenous peoples. The publication in the Official Gazette further confirms that the three counselors have served since July 2026, meaning their decisions on the council have retroactive effect to that date.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,572, Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Section I, pp. 1-2 (official reference: CVE 2882705).