Diario La Nación
- THE GOVERNMENT'S OFFICIAL DECLARATION
- THE SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER
- The Committee That Will Report on the Accusation Against the Minister of the Interior
La Nación of Santiago featured a confrontation between the War Minister and the Chamber of Deputies on its 21 October 1926 front page. A cabinet declaration, agreed unanimously under the President, insisted that the minister had rightly protested against deputies who insulted the Army and had meant no threat to Parliament, while urging party leaders to help restrain “disruptive elements” sheltering behind parliamentary immunity. Alongside it, the paper printed Chamber president Gumucio's speech recounting how the minister was called to order and walked out, then released an unread portion that, in Gumucio's view, offended and threatened Congress, a body with no material means to defend itself. A third item reported that the committee examining a constitutional accusation against the Interior Minister had read a police chief's report backing the minister on a detention order and was seeking a unanimous single report.
This reading covers three passages from the front page of La Nación (Santiago) of 21 October 1926: the government's official declaration, Chamber president Gumucio's speech, and the report on the committee examining the accusation against the Interior Minister. Each passage begins or ends mid-sentence where columns are cut, and the opening and closing fragments belong to adjacent items. The supplied OCR is badly corrupted (it gives the year as 1920), so the text was read from the page images. The binding crops the page edges, the facing page is illegible, and small type at the lower left is partly blurred. Other articles on the page are not covered.
Translation
THE GOVERNMENT'S OFFICIAL DECLARATION
The Chamber protested […]
The Minister of the Interior handed us the following document this afternoon:
“The Council of Ministers, meeting under the chairmanship of His Excellency the President of the Republic, unanimously agreed to publish the following official declaration:
“The Minister of War, both in the words he spoke at yesterday's session of the Chamber of Deputies and in the part of the speech that he did not manage to read and that has been published, rightly protested against the conduct of the Deputies who had attacked and insulted the Army, and had no intention of wounding or threatening Parliament, as some members of Congress have believed. Any interpretation that may not correspond to this purpose must be dismissed.”
“The Government appeals once more to the patriotism of the leading men of the parties, reminds them of the delicate circumstances through which the Republic is passing, and urges them to cooperate with it in the task of restraining the initiatives of the disruptive elements which, inside and outside the Chamber of Deputies and sheltering behind their parliamentary immunity, have been disturbing public tranquillity, the proper functioning of the new constitutional regime and the work of [?]
THE SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER
[…] Minister of War
Mr. Gumucio delivered the following speech at yesterday's session:
“The Minister of War began yesterday to deliver a speech; he spoke discourteous words that amounted to a breach of the respect owed to the Chamber; I called him to order, as was my duty, asking him to withdraw those expressions, and the Minister left the Hall. The incident ended, and the Chamber continued the session with the dignified serenity that befits it. Afterwards, the Minister handed to the press, for publication, the full text of the speech he had come to deliver. In the part of the speech not delivered in the Chamber, the Minister makes declarations in the name of His Excellency the President of the Republic and, moreover, gravely offends and threatens the National Congress. The offenses amount to contempt. The threats amount to an attack on the freedom and authority of a sovereign power of the State. The Chamber has no material means with which to defend itself. But as long as force does not, in fact, oppress it, [it will] main- […]
The Committee That Will Report on the Accusation Against the Minister of the Interior
[…] the judgment the Communist representation had formed regarding the latest incidents, that is, to place itself on the sidelines of current events.
IT WANTS TO ISSUE A SINGLE REPORT, ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE
Last night at 10 o'clock the Committee charged with studying the background and reporting on the accusation against the Minister of the Interior for violation of the Constitution held a meeting. Some of the documents sent to the Committee were read, among them a report by the Director General of Police, Mr. Blanche, in which he agrees with the Minister's statements as regards the detention order. The Committee intends to deliver a single report setting out a unanimous opinion of the members of the Committee, who to that end will consult their respective party committees today.
PARLIAMENTARIANS AT THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR
Yesterday afternoon, after the sessions of the […]
Context
Why a War Minister's speech alarmed Congress
The War Minister at the center of both the cabinet declaration and Gumucio's protest was Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, who, according to the Chilean Library of Congress biography, stayed in the War portfolio after Emiliano Figueroa Larraín became president and held it until 9 February 1927. His weight in politics came from the army's recent intervention in it. In the Senate session of 4 September 1924 a group of army officers voiced their opposition to a parliamentary allowance, and Ibáñez joined the Military Committee formed partly by the officers who had appeared before Congress; that committee kept operating and asked for the legislature to be dissolved. As War Minister, Ibáñez also signed the Constitution of 1925, the basis of the “new constitutional regime” that the cabinet says disruptive elements were disturbing. Against that record, a minister who spoke for the army against deputies and made declarations in the President's name was easily heard as a threat, which is how Gumucio described it. The paper's government declaration denies any intent to threaten, yet in the same text asks party leaders to help restrain deputies sheltering behind parliamentary immunity, so it backs the minister rather than retreating from him.
Rafael Luis Gumucio and the fate of the Chamber's protest
Rafael Luis Gumucio Vergara, a Conservative deputy, presided over the Chamber of Deputies from 1 March to 28 October 1926, and his parliamentary biography states that he left that post after a conflict with Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. The speech printed here is his own account of that conflict: he called the minister to order and asked him to withdraw his words, the minister walked out, and the full text, including the unread portion, then went to the press. Gumucio framed the unread portion in legal terms, as contempt and as an attack on the freedom and authority of a sovereign power of the State, and openly conceded that the Chamber had no material means to defend itself. His presidency ended one week after this issue, on 28 October. His opposition to Ibáñez also cost him personally: at the end of February 1927 Gumucio, with other parliamentarians and politicians opposed to Ibáñez, was deported and left the country for Ecuador. On this page his version stands next to the cabinet's competing reading of the same speech, and the newspaper prints both without settling which is right.
The constitutional accusation against the Interior Minister
Under the 1925 Constitution, a constitutional accusation was a procedure in which the Chamber of Deputies acted as accuser and the Senate as jury, and ministers of State could be accused for, among other grounds, treason, misappropriation of public funds, infringement of the Constitution and trampling of the laws. The committee in this article was examining exactly such a charge, “violation of the Constitution,” against the Minister of the Interior. A list of Chilean constitutional accusations records one against Interior Minister Maximiliano Ibáñez, filed in October 1926 and rejected by the Chamber on 28 October 1926; the timing makes it very likely that this is the case the committee was handling. The paper adds a detail not found in these background sources: the Director General of Police, Blanche, sent a report agreeing with the minister on a detention order, which suggests the accusation turned at least partly on an arrest. The sources consulted do not identify who was to be detained or why, so the page establishes only that the police chief's account supported the minister. The Chamber's rejection of the accusation fell on the same day that Gumucio's presidency of the Chamber ended.
From the October 1926 clash to Ibáñez's rule in 1927
Emiliano Figueroa's presidency lasted only a year and a half, and the clash reported on this page belongs to its troubled middle. On 9 February 1927 Ibáñez took the Interior Ministry as well, holding it in parallel until 7 April 1927; according to his official biography Figueroa then resigned, and Ibáñez, as Interior Minister, assumed the vice presidency. In that capacity he read the second annual presidential message that Figueroa never delivered. Ibáñez called a presidential election for 22 May 1927, was the only candidate and won; he took office on 21 July 1927 at the head of an authoritarian government and began a harsh persecution of his political enemies. Read with that sequence in mind, the October 1926 page shows the balance of forces at an early stage: a Chamber president admitting that Congress had no material means of defense, and a cabinet that stood by its War Minister while asking party leaders to curb deputies protected by parliamentary immunity. The newspaper could not know what followed, but within nine months the minister at the center of this dispute was president.
Original
LA DECLARACION OFICIAL DEL GOBIERNO
La Cámara protestó p LA DECLARACION OFICIAL DEL GOBIERNO El Ministro del Interior, nos entregó en la tarde de hoy el siguiente documento: " Reunido el Consejo de Ministros bajo la Presidencia de S. E. el Presidente de la República se acordó por unanimidad la publicación de la siguiente declaración oficial: " El Ministro de Guerra, tanto en las palabras que pronunció en la sesión de ayer de la Cámara de Diputados, como en la parte del discurso que no alcanzó a leer y que se ha publicado, protestó con razón de la conducta de los Diputados que habían atacado y ofendido al Ejército, y no tuvo el ánimo de herir ni de amenazar al Parlamento, como lo han creído algunos miembros del Congreso. Cualquiera interpretación que pudiera no corresponder a este propósito debe desestimarse ". " El Gobierno apela una vez más al patriotismo de los hombres dirigentes de los partidos, les hace presente las deli cadas circunstancias que atraviesa la República, y los exhorta a cooperar con él en la tarea de refrenar las iniciativas de los elementos disolventes que, dentro y fuera de la Cámara de Diputados y asilándose en su inmunidad parlamentaria, vienen perturbando la tranquilidad pública, el funcionamiento correcto del nuevo régimen constitucional y la obra de [?]
EL DISCURSO DEL PRESIDENTE DE LA CAMARA
Ministro de la Guerra EL DISCURSO DEL PRESIDENTE DE LA CAMARA El señor Gumucio pronunció en la sesión de ayer el siguiente discurso: " El señor Ministro de la Guerra, comenzó ayer a pronunciar un discurso; dijo palabras descomedidas que importaban una falta al respeto debido a la Cámara; lo llamé al orden, como era de mi deber, pidiéndole el retiro de esas expresiones, y el señor Ministro abandonó la Sala. Terminó el incidente y la Cámara continuó la sesión con la digna serenidad que le corresponde. Posteriormente, el señor Ministro entregó a la prensa, para su publicación, el texto íntegro del discurso que había venido a pronunciar. En la parte del discurso no pronunciado en la Cámara, el señor Ministro hace declaraciones en nombre de S. E. el Presidente de la República y, por otra parte, ofende y amenaza gravemente al Congreso Nacional. Las ofensas importan desacato. Las amenazas importan un atentado contra la libertad y la autoridad de un poder soberano del Estado. La Cámara no cuenta con elementos materiales para defenderse. Pero, mientras la fuerza, de hecho, no la oprima, man -
La Comisión que informará sobre la acusación al Ministro del Interior
juicio que se había formado la representación comunista respecto de las últimas incidencias, es decir colocarse al márgen de los actuales acontecimientos. La Comisión que informará sobre la acusación al Ministro del Interior QUIERE EMITIR UN INFORME UNICO, ADOPTADO POR LA UNANIMIDAD DE LOS MIEMBROS DE LA COMISION Anoche, a las 10, se reunió la Comisión que está encargada de estudiar los antecedentes e informar sobre la acusación al señor Ministro del Interior, pqr atropello a la Constitución. Se leyeron algunos antecedentes enviados a la Comisión, entre ellos un informe del Director General de Policías, señor Blanche, en el que coincide con declaraciones del señor Ministro, en lo que se refiere a la orden de detención. La Comisión tiene el propósito de evacuar un informe único, en el que se consulte una opinión unánime de los miembros de la Comisión, quienes con tal objeto consultarán hoy a sus respectivos Comitées. PARLAMENTARIOS EN EL MINISTERIO DEL INTERIOR En la tarde de ayer, después que terminaron las sesiones de la
Source: Source: Internet Archive