Chris Coye’s Exit Fuels Talk of Trouble in Briceno’s Second Term

There’s a shake-up in the Ministry of Finance; Christopher Coye, one of Prime Minister Briceño’s most trusted allies, is stepping away from his role as Minister of State. He’s heading back to private practice, and yes, the move has been making headlines. But here’s the real question: is this just a personal decision, or could it be seen as a blow to the Briceño administration, especially so early in their second term?

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“No, it’s not a mere six months. He stated he joined the government in November of 2020. And the reason why he was the last to be named, if you remember, it was because we were trying to find a way where we could accommodate to find some way we could keep him to work with the government. But realizing that he has to go back to his law firm, just like his previous foreign minister, Eamon Courtenay, and I understand that. I mean, if they’re not there, they don’t produce like, for instance, in my in my instance, you know, it’s a company and, you know, you give you your direction or your vision and then you move on. You have people running it. But in a law firm, like an accountant or like a journalist like yourself, you can’t send nobody to do your job so and it’s the same thing, like with him, he has to go back to his law firm. What’s important is that we will continue. He’ll continue to work with us, more in an advisory role, so we could continue to keep the Ministry of Finance rolling. I’m in a position, I’m at the point of probably naming a small team where we could be looking at, finance, you know, probably two, three times a month to ensure that we can keep things tight the way we’ve been doing successfully for the past five years.”