Chile's President Wants To Exchange October 12 And 31 Public Holidays

Sources: El Mercurio (Santiago) and Chile public holidays (qppstudio.net). As we announced on September 16, the bill making October 31st a new annual public holiday (día de las Iglesias Evangélicas) in Chile was approved by the Senate's Government commission, yesterday.

President Bachelet, through the Presidency's Secretary General, José Antonio Viera-Gallo, has indicated that she would approve the creation of this new public holiday, but that as counterpart, she would insist that the October 12 (día de la Raza) public holiday be cancelled (as we had reported was a possibility, back on December 12, 2007).

However, this quid pro quo is being resisted in the Senate on the grounds that the October 12 public holiday is an important national holiday in its own right and that, in any case, it would be unfair to make the Evangelical church directly responsible for its cancellation.

Another point still unclear is whether the new holiday would move to the nearest Monday if it falls in the middle of the week, as does the October 12 public holiday, but an option that was not used for the July 16 public holiday created in 2006.