On Friday morning, the building at Morandé 440 in Santiago opened like every morning. But one man was not supposed to be inside. Luis Maldonado Croquevielle had run the Property, Commerce and Water Registry there for almost thirty years.
Carlos Miranda, sixty years old, came to work early. He was worried. He thought Maldonado would be at his desk, working like always. Maldonado had worked all day on Thursday and went home in the afternoon. He said nothing to anyone.
Miranda called the judicial prosecutors of the Santiago Court of Appeals. So on Friday two prosecutors, Javiera González and Jorge Norambuena, came to the building. They met Miranda. Then they walked floor by floor and asked the staff for their identity cards. At about half past ten, Maldonado walked in. He walked around the ground floor and said hello to the people who worked for him until Thursday evening. Then he met the prosecutors. When he passed Miranda, the two men did not say hello.
Maldonado was eighty-one years old. His job ended at 23:59 the night before, because of a new law, Law 21,772.
The new law started on 2 April 2026. Before, people kept these jobs for all their life. Now the maximum age is seventy-five years. New people will be chosen in public competitions.
Maldonado got this job in 1997. President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle called him to say that he was chosen. He started on 16 December 1997.
People often criticised him because he gave work to his family. Journalists found sons, nephews, a daughter-in-law and a godson in the office. In 2022, reports found at least fifteen relatives or friends of Maldonado in the institution.
Now the law says these offices cannot give work to close family.
Maldonado went to the courts to stop his removal, but he lost.
He was not the only one. On the same Friday, thirty-five notaries, registrars and archivists over seventy-five had to leave their jobs. Their average age was eighty-one. The oldest was Alfonso Barrientos, from Los Andes. He is ninety-six. The offices stay open with temporary people.
Miranda wrote a message to the staff. He asked them to work calmly and with respect.