According to Minister Francisco Undurraga, the controversial episode he experienced this Saturday 30 during a performance of La pérgola de las flores held at the CEINA Cultural Center, in which the public protested with boos and insults against him, was a “trap”. This Wednesday, in an interview with Universo radio, he assured that the jeers directed at him and the Minister of Energy, Ximena Rincón, were an orchestrated action.
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The head of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage pointed to “all those responsible for the staging,” including actress Amparo Noguera, who – according to his version – would be in charge of the production company behind the show.
Noguera strongly denies her degree of involvement. In fact, the artist tells Culto that she attended as a guest because this version of Isidora Aguirre’s play is the one her father, Héctor Noguera, successfully staged in collaboration with GAM and has continued touring after his death, in October 2025, at 88 years old. The general production of it falls to Piedad Noguera, her sister.
“This was the first performance held after my father’s death, so for everyone it was a very significant performance. It was originally going to be held in January (in the Plaza de la Cultura) and had to be suspended because a storm was announced that day,” she says on the phone with this media outlet.
“I have no relationship with the production or direction of La pérgola de las flores –she emphasizes–. The only relationship I have is that it’s a production that fascinates me for several artistic and emotional reasons, which make me want to attend every performance. For me, it’s a celebration from every point of view.”
The actress admits she was surprised to hear that Undurraga had called the situation a “trap” and had directly challenged her. “I think it’s a huge lack of information regarding the circumstances surrounding this play. To think that I command that production or that I have any power over the audience that attends or over the staging or over the actors, is significant misinformation,” she explains.
“Sometimes we err due to lack of information, but the problem is that the Minister of Culture cannot do that. And then it turns into a very serious accusation against a private individual, which is me. I am neither a politician nor part of anything. I am a private individual, I am an actress. I am the daughter of the director, who is Héctor Noguera, National Art Award winner of this country. It is a lack of respect not only to me, but also to the memory of my father, who is not a minor actor, who is an actor who has made history in this country, who is an actor who always fought intelligently and politely for the rights of theater and art in general. He is a person loved across the board by all Chileans, respected by them. So, they also affect his memory.”
“If my father were alive, I assure you he would be talking about this. I assure you,” she emphasizes.
The actress says that initially her plan was to see La pérgola de las flores this weekend accompanied by three members of her family. One of them was a great-niece who couldn’t join. Finally, she says in this interview, she arrived alone. “Even something domestic could have happened to me at the last minute and I might not have made it to the performance,” she notes.
Noguera responds in this way to the statements of Minister Undurraga, who declared yesterday that his advance team was informed that she would be with a niece and that he was surprised to find her predecessor in office, Carolina Arredondo, at the venue.
“Why can’t they inform me? Why does she have to go hidden? Why does she have to go under the reason that she is a niece? If they told my advance team that she was going to sit next to a niece, not the former minister,” expressed the head of the portfolio in conversation with Universo radio.
Regarding her alleged responsibility in Arredondo’s participation, the actress clarifies: “Not only do I rule it out. I find it a delusional deduction. What is the basis for that? It’s like something I would have planned Machiavellianly.”
“It was a significant booing. For me it was uncomfortable too, don’t think it wasn’t. I was not happy. It’s uncomfortable, it’s strong,” she states in relation to the situation experienced by Undurraga and Rincón, in front of an audience that “was not people related to culture, it was the general public. Family, children, etc.”
According to her point of view, “it is a spontaneous reaction from the audience. Whether that is appropriate or not, whether spontaneity is appropriate or not, is something I find hard to answer. I believe these are spontaneous acts in a space that theater has historically offered. Art and culture are meeting points where people see themselves reflected, where people react, where people understand things. It is not a provocation. Theater is truly a mirror of the reality of societies and humanity.”
In this case, she maintains, “La pérgola de las flores is a play that is political in itself. If the minister thinks it’s an innocent piece full of beautiful songs, he doesn’t know the play. It’s a play where a group of students and a group of flower sellers defend their workplace. That this has to do with 2026, and remains relevant, seems curious and serious to me.”
According to her analysis, what happened last Saturday at the CEINA Cultural Center is closely linked to the announcement of budget cuts in the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, part of the policy promoted across all portfolios by the government of President José Antonio Kast.
“People do not agree with the decisions to cut culture. What do they intend? Of course, it doesn’t surprise me. Just as no demonstration taking place in the streets surprises me. The public’s concern with education or health doesn’t surprise me. Because there are very serious cuts. Seriously, I ask, what do they intend? To enter a place and be applauded and cheered when people are discontent? So, to attribute to an actress like me, who has absolutely no say, that I supposedly organized this movement, seems delusional to me.”
-In the same interview, Minister Undurraga recalled that you participated in the ‘Apruebo’ campaign during the first constituent process. How did you receive that comment?
Yes, of course, I was part of the ‘Apruebo’ campaign, just as many people were part of the ‘Apruebo’ campaign, but that doesn’t make me a person who moves masses. I don’t even have political party membership anywhere. I am not a leader. I am an actress who participated as many other people did. And that doesn’t make me, or any of the people who participated in that campaign, a person inciting violence. Just as I believe no one who participated in the ‘Apruebo’ campaign says that people from the ‘Rechazo’ campaign incite violence. That is irresponsible.
-Before this weekend’s episode, did you have a formed opinion about the minister? Does that opinion remain?
To be honest, I didn’t know much about Minister Undurraga’s previous management. People were somewhat doubtful about how his management would be. Well, now things have changed. But to blame me so crudely, or to say that the actors of La pérgola de las flores modified the texts of the play, seems to me an enormous ignorance, a huge lack of information, and a blindness and failure to assume their responsibility and deny the reactions of the people they are governing. That is serious.
