President Kast paid for his former colleagues' meal at the Executive headquarters, says Chilean government spokesperson

Santiago de Chile.- The Chilean government spokeswoman, Mara Sedini, stated this Monday that the controversial lunch for a hundred former university colleagues that the President of the Republic, José Antonio Kast, gave last Friday at the Palacio de la Moneda (Executive headquarters) "was paid for" by the president himself. In statements to the press after attending Parliament, Sedini, however, avoided clarifying whether officials from the palace itself participated in the event and detailing which rooms, spaces, and institutional resources were used for the lunch. "As I said a few hours ago, the answer to the controversy of the lunch will be answered via institutions in the appropriate form and time. Now, I do want to make one thing very clear: I can assure you that lunch was financed by the President of the Republic with his own means," he affirmed.

The controversial lunch of the President of Chile, José Antonio Kast

"The president funded the lunch with his own resources and the rest of the details will be made known, through institutional channels to the Comptroller General of the Republic, in a timely manner," he reiterated.

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The lunch, which went viral after numerous guests boasted about it on social media, sparked a huge controversy this Monday after opposition deputies demanded that the national Comptroller's Office clarify whether public funds and institutional spaces were used for a private event. Daniel Manouchehri, parliamentarian of the Socialist Party, stressed that "using public resources for private celebrations is serious." Questions Manouchehri already denounced weeks ago, along with opposition senator Daniella Cicardini, the first lady, María Pía Adriasola, for serving lunch to the workers of La Moneda without respecting health protocols, such as the obligation to wear gloves and masks, and cover their hair. From the officialism, for their part, they pointed out that the important thing now is that there is some instruction or regulation that defines the criteria for these situations in the future, since apparently it does not exist because the last Chilean president who lived in La Moneda was Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, between the years 1952 and 1958. «It should not be forgotten that the President lives in La Moneda and, therefore, if his children come to see him and come to eat with him, it must be clear which room they are going to use and what the rules are so that public funds are not used», said Guillermo Ramírez, president of the ultra-radical Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party, to which Kast belonged. The far-right leader appealed to "austerity and savings" to justify his decision to be the first leader to reside in the palace since 1958, also denouncing that the previous administration left the country ruined. As detailed on television, he resides at La Moneda during the week and at his home on the weekend to "not generate more expense for the State" by renting a special house or paying for long trips, as his private residence is located in Paine, a town located 50 kilometers on the outskirts of Santiago.