Opponents fear reduced government spending

Leading political figures in the soon-to-be-out-of-power Concertacion coalition on Tuesday criticized plans to sell off parts of Chile’s national copper company Codelco, dealing a blow to President-elect Sebastian Piñera’s hopes to achieve a national consensus on the issue.

“Codelco needs to continue as an entirely public company,” said Ricardo Nunez of Chile’s socialist party. “It seems dangerous to begin discussing the sale of the firm’s parts.”

These comments followed a public rejection of the proposals by Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez who stressed that private enterprise would not strengthen the firm (ST, Jan. 20).