Chilean president ratifies FM after cabinet overhaul

Amid the uncertainty following Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's dismissal of her cabinet, the government announced early Thursday that Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz will retain his post.

"In the case of the minister of foreign affairs, the president greatly values his performance, particularly in the role of coordinating the team that represents Chile at The Hague, and he is therefore ratified in his post," said government spokesman Alvaro Elizalde.

Munoz is currently at The Hague-based International Court of Justice, leading Chile's legal team in a maritime suit brought by neighboring landlocked Bolivia, which wants Chile to grant it sea access.

The center-left Bachelet asked her entire cabinet to hand in their resignations amid a crisis of credibility sparked by scandals in government, including one involving her son Sebastian Davalos. Bachelet announced the decision in a television interview Wednesday night.

Her approval rating has plummeted to 31 percent, while the opposition party, mired in scandals of its own, is at 17 percent, according to a survey released Wednesday.

During the interview, Bachelet acknowledged the critical lack of confidence in government, and explained why she waited until now to do something about it, 14 months into her second term as president.

"I believe Chile is experiencing a crisis of mistrust," said Bachelet, though she indicated it has been building up over many years.

The scandal that hurt her the most, the one involving her son, former director of the presidency's charitable work, emerged in February, but Bachelet said she put off making any major changes due to several natural disasters that have hit Chile lately, including the mudslides in the northern region of Atacama and the recent eruptions of the Calbuco Volcano in southern Chile.

Davalos is suspected of influence peddling and using privileged information for personal enrichment, while the conservatives have been linked to a corruption scheme that allowed big businesses to declare tax deductible expenses in exchange for financing election campaigns. Some 50 deputies and 13 senators have been implicated.

Bachelet, who was on vacation when the Davalos scandal broke, said she "really regretted the issue that involved my son and daughter-in-law. As I was in a very faraway place and received bits and pieces of information, I didn't realize the scope of the problem."

Asked if her advisers told her not to return, she said: "l was advised not to return."

"The best way to recover the (people's) trust, not just in me but in the country (and) in the institutions, is to fulfill the promises we made during the election campaign," Bachelet said. Endi