The Minister of Social Development, Jeanette Vegaassured this Sunday that in Chile today “there are political prisoners”noting that these cases are linked to arrests that occurred during the social outbreak of 2019 y “prisoners who have to do with native peoples“.
“There are political prisoners, without a doubt, and I can give examples: the boys who are currently in preventive detention since the (social) outbreakwhich have even taken some two years, if they are not political prisoners, What are they? Because in practice they have not been prosecuted“, the Secretary of State pointed out in dialogue with Zero Tolerance of CNN Chile.
#ToleranciaCero | Minister Jeanette Vega: “There are undoubtedly political prisoners.”
???? LIVE: https://t.co/j5l6ALbSV3 pic.twitter.com/VclA3NbNws
— CNN Chile (@CNNChile) May 16, 2022
Despite the fact that this statement generated questions from those who participated in the program, the minister assured that “reality is reality” and reiterated her position: “indeed we have political prisoners and not all of them, but some of the prisoners who have to do with native peoples, they are basically political prisoners“.
“We are not going to give names, it is not the moment, but obviously there are people who have been imprisoned mainly for defending their right to land restitutionVega pointed out.
Regarding the situation of these detainees and the determinations of the Courts, the leader of Social Development warned that “here we enter a rockier terrain, which is the terrain of justice, which has to do its job, but part of the work is that people are effectively judged“.
#ToleranciaCero | Minister Jeanette Vega: “Some of the prisoners who have to do with native peoples are basically political prisoners.”
???? LIVE: https://t.co/j5l6ALbSV3 pic.twitter.com/H7g97zHkIr
— CNN Chile (@CNNChile) May 16, 2022
“You cannot keep a person for two years (detained) without being triedbecause that does violate the right of that person to be tried and be free,” said the Secretary of State about her consideration regarding political prisoners in the country.
Finally, he reported that among these political prisoners are some “people from the social uprising who have actually been imprisoned for up to two years and have not been tried, and when they have been judged they have gone free“.
“I SHOULD DIFFERENTIATE AND AVOID MISUNDERSTANDINGS”
After her participation in the aforementioned program, Minister Vega backed down on the existence of political prisoners in Chile and stated that “Today there is no room to talk” about this type of detaineenoting a “misunderstanding” in his statements.
“There are people imprisoned for crimes committed in a political context, but that is not the same as there are people imprisoned for their ideas. In this sense, it is not possible today to speak of political prisoners. I should have differentiated and avoided misunderstandings“, He pointed out on his Twitter account during the early hours.
There are people imprisoned for crimes committed in a political context, but that is not the same as there are people imprisoned for their ideas. In this sense, it is not possible today to speak of political prisoners. I should have differentiated and avoided misunderstanding.
— Jeanette Vega (@jeanvegamorales) May 16, 2022