Yasna Provoste

Yasna Provoste

Born	(1969-12-16) December 16, 1969 Santiago, Chile, Chile
Residence	Santiago, Chile, Chile

Yasna Provoste Campillay (born December 16, 1969) is a Chilean teacher and Christian Democrat politician. Since March 2014 she is a deputy at the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, representing District 6 of the Atacama Region of northern Chile. In 2008, as Minister of Education, she became the first minister to be impeached by Congress since democracy returned in 1990.

Education and political career

Provoste was born in Vallenar, north of Chile, to a family of Diaguita descent. At the age of nine she was a national champion in gymnastics, for which she received a scholarship to study at the women's boarding school in Santiago. Back in Vallenar she switched to athletics, becoming a pentathlon champion.

Provoste majored in physical education at the Playa Ancha University of Educational Sciences in Valparaíso. She pursued postgrad studies in education administration at the same university, and in local government and decentralization in Colombia. During her university years she was twice president of the student board and was a member of the student's federation.

During the Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle administration Provoste was the Atacama Region director of the National Women's Service (1996–97) and governor of the Huasco Province (1997–2001). During President Ricardo Lagos's tenure she was intendant of the Atacama Region (2001–04), minister of Planning (2004–06) and, during Michelle Bachelet's presidency, National Executive Director of Integra Foundation (2006) and minister of Education (2006–08).

Impeachment trial

In February 2008, the Office of the General Auditor of the Republic reported that around US$500 million transferred by the Education Ministry to public and subsidized private schools during 2004–2008 were not properly accounted for and that nearly US$600K were illegally transferred by an accountant working in the Ministry's Santiago Regional Office to private school managers and her relatives. There were also reports of financial mismanagement in other areas, as well as duplicate enrollment of thousands of students.

Vote details

Chamber of Deputies:^[1]

Admissibility of impeachment against the Minister of Education Yasna Provoste.
- Yes: 59 (50.9%) [All opposition-party deputies, plus independent deputy Marta Isasi, and former Christian Democrats Alejandra Sepúlveda, Jaime Mulet, Eduardo Díaz and Carlos Olivares.]
- No: 55 (47.4%) [All Concertación deputies, except Christian Democrats Gabriel Ascencio and Pablo Lorenzini, Party for Democracy René Alinco, and Socialist Laura Soto.]
- Abstention: 2 (1.7%) [Concertación deputies René Alinco and Pablo Lorenzini.]
- Not present: 3 [Former Christian Democrat Pedro Araya, Christian Democrat Gabriel Ascencio and former Party for Democracy Esteban Valenzuela.]
- Barred from voting: 1 [Socialist Laura Soto.]

Senate:^[2]

Count 1: Not correcting the grave infringements and irregularities committed by the Santiago Metropolitan Region Ministerial Secretary of Education in the handling of public funds.
- Yes: 20 (52.6%) [Votes by senators from the opposition parties Independent Democratic Union and National Renewal, by former Concertación senators Fernando Flores and Adolfo Zaldívar, and by independent senator Carlos Bianchi.]
- No: 18 (47.4%) [Votes by senators from the governing Concertación coalition.]
- Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
- Result: Approved.
Count 2: Not applying sanctions in the cases of grave infractions to the subsidizing law.
- Yes: 19 (50.0%) [Same as Count 1, minus Bianchi.]
- No: 19 (50.0%) [Same as Count 1, plus Bianchi.]
- Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
- Result: Rejected.
Count 3: Not dismissing the Santiago Metropolitan Region Ministerial Secretary of Education, administratively responsible in the grave infractions and irregularities.
- Yes: 4 (10.5%) [Four opposition-party senators.]
- No: 34 (89.5%)
- Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
- Result: Rejected.
Count 4: Ignoring the results and recommendations of audits that revealed the very grave irregularities committed in different programs and regions of the country.
- Yes: 14 (36.8%) [Thirteen opposition-party senators, plus Zaldívar.]
- No: 24 (63.2%)
- Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
- Result: Rejected.
Count 5: Providing inaccurate or intentionally incomplete information to the public opinion and to the Chamber of Deputies, thus violating the principle of administrative probity.
- Yes: 3 (7.9%) [Three opposition-party senators.]
- No: 34 (89.5%)
- Abstention: 1 (2.6%) [Former Concertación senator Fernando Flores.]
- Result: Rejected.

Provoste was accused by the opposition of not correcting these irregularities and was impeached (violation of article 52, number 2, letter b of the Constitution) as minister of Education by the Chamber of Deputies on April 3, 2008 and suspended from her post. The Senate heard her case on April 15, 2008 and voted to convict her the following day on one out of five counts. She was immediately removed from her job and disqualified from office for the following five years.

Post-impeachment life

Shortly after her impeachment Provoste moved to Canada to study. On October 15, 2008 she filed a suit against the Chilean State before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.^[3]

Provoste returned to Chile in mid-2009, residing in Vallenar. In November 2010 she was elected Atacama Region president of the Christian Democrat Party with 80% of the vote, allowing her to be part of the party's National Council.^[4] In November 2013, she was elected a deputy at Chile's lower chamber of Congress, representing District 6 of the Atacama Region of northern Chile.

References

↑
↑ "ACUSACIÓN CONSTITUCIONAL CONTRA MINISTRA DE EDUCACIÓN", Chilean Senate.
↑ Provoste demanda a Chile ante la Comisión Interamericana de DD.HH. por su destitución, El Mercurio, October 16, 2008.
↑ La Tercera, February 7, 2011, p. 1.

Political offices
Preceded by Andrés Palma	Minister of Planning 2004-2006	Succeeded by Clarisa Hardy
Preceded by Martín Zilic	Minister of Education 2006-2008	Succeeded by Mónica Jiménez

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