It was Friday morning in Santiago. The office on Morandé 440 opened, like every morning. But one man was not supposed to come. His name is Luis Maldonado Croquevielle. For almost thirty years, he was the boss of this office. The office keeps papers about houses and land.
Carlos Miranda came early. He is sixty years old. He works in the same office. He was worried. He thought Maldonado would sit at his desk and work, like always. On Thursday, Maldonado worked all day. Then he went home. He said nothing to anyone.
Miranda called the court. So on Friday, two people from the court came to the building. Their names are Javiera González and Jorge Norambuena. They talked to Miranda. Then they walked from floor to floor. They called names. They asked the workers for their identity cards.
At half past ten, Maldonado came in. He walked around the ground floor. He said hello to his workers. Then he met the two people from the court. He also met Miranda. The two men did not say hello to each other.
Maldonado is eighty-one years old. His job stopped on Thursday night, at 23:59. A new law stopped it.
The new law is Law 21,772. It started on 2 April 2026. Before, people had this job for all their life. Now they must stop at seventy-five years old.
Maldonado was not alone. On the same Friday, thirty-five other men and women left their jobs too. They are all more than seventy-five years old. One of them is Alfonso Barrientos. He is ninety-six years old. He worked in Los Andes. The offices do not close. Other people do the work now.