2024-02-17 15:54:13
Just as it would happen if we hit a hornet’s nest, the president Gabriel Boric opened a major controversy after his speech during the funeral of Sebastián Piñera, in the midst of their mea culpa for the treatment they gave the former president when he was in opposition, especially regarding the social outbreak.
“The complaints and recriminations sometimes went beyond what was fair and reasonable,” said the current head of state, causing a round of applause in the main hall of the Congress headquarters in Santiago.
His statements generated discomfort in the most left wing of his conglomerate, where he was even branded a “denialist” by deputies of the Communist Party.
But also, the phrase was quickly used by the opposition to demand that the complaints filed against Piñera be withdrawn within the framework of the social outbreak.
Although, by the way, It is something completely unfeasible, since the Government has not presented any legal action, something that they recognize in the opposition, and that lawyers and Human Rights organizations reproach.
Although the Government, through its spokesperson, Minister Camila Vallejo, tried to do damage control, the truth is that the explanation that the word “complaint” pointed to discord or quarrel, was not only totally sterile, but it increased even more the annoyance.
As parliamentarians from Chile Vamos pointed out to BioBioChile outside the microphone, Boric’s statements revived a wound that remains latent in the opposition, related to the alleged attempt by the left to remove Piñera from La Moneda at any cost, both through of the violence – which they supported – as well as the Constitutional Accusations that they presented against them.
“Here there was a clear focus that was to get Piñera out, what happens is that now that they have the guitar they have realized that it was not how they saw it. Piñera had to fall. That was the objective,” says a UDI deputy.
For this reason, since the inmates are aware that it is not possible for Boric to remove the complaints, at least They will pressure him to make an explicit recognition that they were unjustified and to call on the parties in his government coalition to desist them.
Basically, they ask for a gesture from the president, since they are tired of grandiose phrases, but which in practice do not become reality, as they reaffirm.
In parallel, sources from both the UDI and RN, They completely rule out negotiating this eventual “presidential lobby” in exchange for supporting the Government’s reforms in Congress, especially taking into account that the topic was brought up by Gabriel Boric himself.
Criticism of human rights organizations against Boric
In any case, beyond the political issue, the truth is that among Human Rights organizations not only do they refuse to remove the complaints, but they also reproach the passive role that the Government has had.
This is what he points out for example Carlos Margotta, president of the Chilean Human Rights Commission, who have filed 52 complaints. Although, some complaints were grouped together, currently totaling 37 libels related to Law 20,357 that sanctions crimes against humanity, directed both against the material authors – such as police officials – as well as the authorities of the time, starting with the President, passing through the Minister of the Interior and the Undersecretary; as well as the general director of Carabineros.
“Since the Government took office, no complaint has been filed by the president or the Ministry of the Interior to pursue acts constituting crimes against Human Rights committed during the social outbreak. Therefore, there is no possibility of withdrawing because there are no complaints filed by the Government,” he explains.
Likewise, he adds that the holders of the criminal action are the victims and only they can withdraw through their lawyers, calling what happened an “artificial discussion.”
“The victims, of course, are not going to withdraw because they are obviously trying to establish truth and justice and reparation,” maintains Margotta, emphasizing that “withdrawal has no effect, from a legal point of view.” , because being a public criminal action, it obliges the Public Ministry and the Judiciary to continue with the investigation until the complete establishment of the corresponding criminal actions, therefore, “This is a totally artificial discussion.”
“What is behind all this is a political use of the political environment that was generated with the death of Sebastián Piñera, in which it is intended to omit the obligations that the Chilean State has regarding truth, justice and reparation to the victims” , he questions.
“We must remember that legally, Sebastián Piñera’s criminal responsibility was extinguished by his death. But regarding the other defendants, the investigation must continue,” Add.
President Boric’s “denialism” for statements about Piñera
In that sense, Carlos Margotta also criticizes the statements of President Gabriel Boric, stating that “it is a great offense not only to the victims, but to society as a whole. And he is also unaware of the four international reports, that no one can be unaware of their content and their statements and their recommendations.”
In that line, the Human Rights lawyer, Karinna Fernández, who is a plaintiff in the case against the Carabineros High Command, He maintains that “with respect to the cases that we have worked on, for them to say that they did not mean a complaint, but rather something else, is highly offensive, because furthermore, no lawyer or someone who studied Law would use the term complaint. And much less someone who has a team that also receives money to make speeches, would use that concept in a confusing way, when it is a technical legal concept.”
“If he wants to ask for forgiveness, if he is guilty, if he has his emotions, his problems,” the lawyer reproached.
Let us also remember that the office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, when a presentation was made by some Human Rights organizations regarding the social outbreak, resolved that Chile has the capacity to judge these events internally and that is why decided not to start the investigation.
However, in Fernández’s opinion, “this term type of speech, precisely what it does, is to demonstrate that perhaps in Chile the internal capacities to carry out a trial are not there. And that is something that the courts will have to demonstrate now, when the causes against humanity are faced.”
For him too Human Rights lawyer and plaintiff in the case of Alex Núñez, Cristián Cruz, “The idea is that the requests within a judicial process are made by the parties or interested parties, because when there is political pressure regarding an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, we return to old times that speak ill of the rule of law.”
Also, in the opinion of the jurist, the president’s statements also have other effects in the political sphere.
“To the extent that a Head of State changes versions or speeches, obviously this has consequences in the political sphere, credibility and support. At this point, I personally cannot be surprised by what the President says. “We will have to wait three more months for what he says on this issue,” Cruz says ironically.
Piñerismo values Boric’s speech
On the contrary, for the right, particularly among Sebastián Piñera’s former collaborators, not only do President Gabriel Boric’s statements stand out, but they reflect a certain maturation of the head of state.
“I consider that it is a sincere, necessary reflection, which is preceded by others from President Boric himself that have shown a maturation once in the exercise of the position, and that they were brutally harsh as an opposition, as had never been seen before and that caused damage to the institutions,” he noted. the former spokesperson for La Moneda, Jaime Bellolio.
“President Boric’s recognition that the complaints, which are not only legal ones, but are also the way in which the opposition was made, are wrong and must be recognized as such, it seems to me that it opens a space for deep reflection on the state of our democracy,” he says in conversation with BioBioChile.
Regarding the criticism, Bellolio harshly criticized the Communist Party for its statements against the president.
“It was not surprising that the first to come out and say that they disagree are those who have based their entire political history around hate and division, particularly those people who are from the most extreme faction of the Communist Party, that “They reach the point of supreme disloyalty of describing their own president as a denier,” he reproached.
Likewise, the former spokesperson for La Moneda and part of the so-called “piñerismo”, recognizes that it could be favorable to continue with the processing of the complaints, so that it is finally the Justice that establishes a legal truth regarding what happened in the social outbreak.
“It would be better if there was a legal truth that would absolutely reject all the lies that have been expressed by the Communist Party and by front organizations of themselves,” estimates Bellolio.
However, Piñera’s former minister warns that “what Chile needs in terms of Human Rights is for issues to be weighed with their due gravity and not for justice to be used to conduct politics. And for the same reason it seems to me that the complaints that are based on lies, that are based on the attempt to politicize justice, of course should be withdrawn.”
“There are others in which justice does have to determine what happened, what the guilt is, who is responsible and what the reparation measures are also. Because in Chile, unlike what those ultra-left parliamentarians believe, there is the rule of law,” she points out.
Asked if he considers that there were human rights violations in Chile, Bellolio is cautious, asserting that this is something that Justice has to determine, but at the level of individual responsibilities.
“There are cases that are being investigated and that are worth it. President Piñera himself also said this in his minute and it is obvious that they are individual and not institutional responsibilities. And for the same reason, any other figure that is intended to be created is based on the idea of politicizing justice and not honoring human dignity,” he said.
“President Piñera actively participated in providing absolutely all the information that was necessary and in all the instances that he could. And of course it would have been much better if those trials, many of them liars, had ended with a legal truth, which is that in Chile the most extreme politicians tried to accuse a democratic government where they tried to interrupt the rule of law, However, they did not achieve it,” he concluded.
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