The drama of senatorial aesthetics: open and closed in less than 24 hours
The scene on the second floor of the Senate this morning was worthy of a slapstick comedy. Resguardo personnel removed the seals that they had placed yesterday on the door of the premises rehabilitated as a beauty salon. A back-and-forth that left more than one with their mouths open.
The office, transformed into an aesthetic for legislators during this legislature, now remains closed and locked. It operated exclusively on session days, but after this mess, no one knows if it will open next Tuesday.
“It is a space adapted to support the senators as well… it is nothing out of the ordinary”, declared Laura Itzel Castillo, president of the Board of Directors.
The official flatly denied that it was a privilege financed with public resources. He argued that similar spaces exist in the Chamber of Deputies. But his words lasted like a sigh in the chamber.
An open secret that ended in closure
Minutes after these statements, the theatrical coup came: staff placed seals and closed the space without giving any explanation. The official silence spoke louder than any speech.
This place has history. It was closed in 2018 with the arrival of the so-called Fourth Transformation. The senators at the time considered it “superfluous, unnecessary, ostentatious and contrary to the principles of austerity.” Grandiloquent words that today sound like a distant echo.
Here comes the plot twist: although parliamentary sources indicated that the reopening was the work of Morenoist senator Andrea Chávez Treviño and her close circle, Castillo rejected this version. He assured that it was “a request from all the senators”.
The question that hangs in the air is obvious: who really gave the order? And why the radical change between public defense and express closure?
This episode reveals more than just a conflict over an aesthetic. It shows the unresolved tensions between the public discourse of austerity and the private practices of power. A theater where the actors change scripts quickly, but the stage—and its privileges—remain.
