General Guillermo Paiva -who retired this Thursday due to his command responsibility in the massive leak of confidential National Defense documents- had a decisive influence on the most controversial phrase that President Piñera uttered during the social outbreak: “We are at war against an implacable and powerful enemy.
The phrase was said by Piñera after a meeting at the Santiago Garrison, on Sunday, October 21, 2019, after hearing a report from Paiva, then Director of Intelligence of the Army, about the possibility that foreign agents had participated in the burning of subway stations, excesses and acts of violence of 18-0.
According to military sources and former advisers to La Moneda, on the night of Sunday, October 21, 2019, the President Pinera He participated in a meeting at the Santiago Garrison, in which the Minister of Defense, Alberto Espina, deputy secretaries of that portfolio and high command of the Armed Forces, including the intelligence directors of the three branches, also participated. Also present was the current Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Javier Iturriaga, appointed head of National Defense in the midst of the social upheaval.
At the meeting, Paiva reported an intelligence report that warned about the possibility that agents from foreign countries – including Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia – had instigated the violence and outrages that occurred on October 18.
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At the end of the meeting, at a press point, Piñera pointed out: “We are at war against a powerful enemy, implacable, who does not respect anything or anyone, who is willing to use violence and crime without any limits”. The then president received all kinds of criticism for his intervention by the opposition.
The then deputy and now President Gabriel Boric was one of the toughest when it came to interpreting Piñera’s words. “For no reason, we can have a President to declare war on his own people.”
The morning after the president’s statement, General Iturriaga surprised everyone with his response when asked if he agreed with Piñera’s words: “I am a happy man, I am not at war with anyone.” The words unleashed strong annoyance of the president and shortly after Iturriaga apologized. The relationship ended up working: Piñera himself named Iturriaga Commander-in-Chief of the Army later.
Former advisers to Piñera told Ex-Ante that Paiva cannot be held responsible for the statements. “What Paiva did was to propose an intelligence hypothesis through a series of suspicious antecedents. But she always raised it as a hypothesis that had to be investigated, but President Piñera rushed”, they pointed out
Paiva, third senior in the Army, worked as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time of retirement.