El Fracaso: cómo se incendió la Convención I Tomas Mosciatti y Renato Garin (2022)

In this exclusive interview, Renato Garin—lawyer, writer, and former constitutional convention delegate—talks with Tomás Mosciatti on Radio BioBio about his book, *The Failure: How the Constitutional Convention Came Down*. The conversation delves into one of the most intense and controversial episodes in Chile's recent history: the constitutional process that emerged after the social uprising of October 2019 and culminated in the September 2022 plebiscite, where the proposed constitution was overwhelmingly rejected. Throughout the conversation, Garin offers a critical and reflective perspective on the origin, development, and collapse of the Convention. Drawing on his personal experience as a delegate, he unfolds a narrative that intertwines political memory, institutional analysis, and self-criticism, describing in detail how a process that began with boundless expectations ended up mired in internal conflicts, strategic errors, and a growing disconnect from the citizenry. Mosciatti conducts the interview with his incisive style, questioning Garin about the underlying causes of the failure: the lack of cross-party agreements, the difficulty in constructing a common narrative, the tensions between political and social identities, and the symbolic weight of the social uprising in shaping the text. Garin argues that the Convention, rather than a space for constitutional drafting, became an arena for ideological confrontation where the logic of the moment prevailed over a long-term perspective. The book, as discussed in the interview, does not simply point fingers at individuals, but rather seeks to understand a broader political phenomenon: the fragility of Chilean institutions in the face of social crisis, the pressure of citizen expectations, and the weakness of the elites in guiding a process of transformation. Garin insists that the failure should not be understood as an isolated accident, but as the result of a chain of erratic decisions, improvisations, and tactical calculations that ultimately ignited the process. The conversation also touches on broader issues: the role of law in times of crisis, the tension between representation and participation, and the fragility of Chilean politics in the face of the emergence of new actors. Garin, in his dual role as witness and analyst, reconstructs internal scenes from the Convention, recounts heated debates, and exposes the growing distance between the constituent body and the society it was meant to represent. Mosciatti, true to form, contrasts these recollections with direct questions about the responsibility of different sectors: To what extent did the radical left influence the delegitimization of the text? What responsibility did moderate sectors bear for failing to reach agreements? What role did the right wing play in the outcome? Garin responds by emphasizing the collective inability to transform the citizens' mandate into a shared project. The interview is a key contribution to understanding the Chilean constitutional crisis, but also a reflection on the future. Garin argues that the failure of the Constitutional Convention does not negate the need for a new Constitution, but rather compels us to rethink how to build legitimacy, consensus, and a shared vision. In this tension between memory and future projection, the dialogue with Mosciatti becomes an essential testimony for those seeking to understand how a historical process brimming with hope ended in an unprecedented political defeat. ⚠️ Note: This interview was conducted in late 2022, in the immediate context of the constitutional plebiscite. #RenatoGarín #Elfracaso #LosReemplazantes #gonzalowinter #GabrielBoric #CamilaVallejo #GiorgioJackson #MaiteOrsini #MiguelCrispi #PabloParedes #RodrigoEchecopar #JeannetteJara #CarolinaTohá #JaimeMulet #KarolCariola #JorgeBrito #fernandoatria #DiegoIbáñez #JorgeSharp #DanielJadue #JoséAntonioKast #EvelynMatthei #FrancoParisi #JohannesKaiser #HaroldMayneNicholls #MarcoEnríquezOminami #SebastiánPiñera #MichelleBachelet #AxelKaiser #IvánPoduje #LuisSilva #FelipeKast #AndrésVelasco #TomásMosciatti #FernandoVillegas #PatriciaPolitzer #IvánMoreira #ÁlvaroValenzuela #Schalper #DiegoSchalper #GuillermoRamírez #ChileVamos #FrenteAmplio #PartidoComunista #DerechaChilena #GeneraciónMillennial #RecambioPolítico #CrisisDeRepresentación #CongresoNacional #MasculinidadMillennial #MujeresMillennial #FeminismoChileno #LiteraturaPolítica #CrónicaPolítica #MemoriaPolítica #EstallidoSocial #EleccionesChile2025