The visit of the Chilean president Gabriel Boric to Argentina highlighted an agenda of issues inherent to the bilateral relationship that have an impact on both sides of the mountain range. The situation of Galvarino Apablazathe former guerrilla accused of killing a Pinochet senator, is one of them and in Chile Doubts are growing about whether he will finally be extradited from Buenos Aires.
The name of the former Chilean guerrilla returned to the agenda of the trans-Andean media with the start of President Boric’s tour. As soon as she arrived in Argentina, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile, Antonia Urrejolaavoided commenting on the case when asked in CNN if they were going to make arrangements with the Casa Rosada for Galvarino to be extradited.
Boric’s agenda continues with a visit to Congress, the Supreme Court and the CCK
“The situation of Apablaza is being known by the courts of Justice in Argentina and therefore it seems to me that due to the separation of powers of the State We must wait for the matter to be resolved by the courtsso the Executive is not going to manifest itself beyond that,” Urrejola said on Sunday night.
The guerrilla, former leader of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front, is accused in Chile of being one of the alleged intellectual authors of the murder of the former senator Jaime Guzman. The crime occurred just 31 years ago, on April 1, 1991 in Santiago, and the victim was an acquaintance referent of the right and of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Apablaza: refuge or extradition?
In the last few hours, the Chilean Foreign Minister was asked whether or not Apablaza should be considered a refugee. “It is not for me to determine that subject”is extralimitó.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile has doubts about the capacity of the Chilean justice system to judge the murderer of a Chilean Senator. She trusts more in Argentine justice. Unusual pic.twitter.com/rwC22riI17
– José Antonio Kast Rist ???????? (@joseantoniokast) April 4, 2022
The Chilean official was also consulted by the CNN Regarding whether Apablaza runs any risk of being tried for the crime by the Chilean Justice itself. “It is not a place that you want to enter. There is a decision of a sovereign state that is Argentina that granted him refuge and it seems to me that the minimum is to be independent of the internal processes of Argentina in this matter,” he added.
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Gabriel Boric and Alberto Fernández spoke about the situation of Galvarino Apablaza.
The statement did not take long to provoke a reaction from the Chilean opposition. On Twitter, the former conservative candidate for president in the last election, Jose Antonio Kast, criticized it for its lack of definitions. “He has doubts about the capacity of the Chilean justice system to try the murderer of a Chilean Senator. Trust more in Argentine justice. Unusual,” she wrote.
The photos of Apablaza during his quiet political asylum in Buenos Aires
In line with the proposal, the Chilean deputy of the Independent Democratic Union (Pinochet space) Guillermo Ramírez, part of the delegation that arrived in Buenos Aires in the last few hours, told Third that he will take advantage “to propose to the chancellor, also to the President, that just as President Bachelet did and so did President Piñera, in the bilateral meetings they have with President Fernández, raise the issue of Galvarino Apablaza“.
The judicial path of Apablaza in Argentina
Apablaza was arrested in Argentina in 2004 by order of the Chilean Justice and later the Supreme Court of the neighboring country. authorized the extradition request. With that endorsement, the definitions remained in the hands of Argentina, where the former guerrilla started a request for political asylum.
The beginning of the process stopped his extradition and after a judicial swing in Comodoro Py, the case came to the hands of the Supreme Court. In September 2010, the High Court, with the votes of Ricardo Lorenzetti, Elena Highton de Nolasco, Carlos Fayt, Enrique Petracchi, Juan Carlos Maqueda and Carmen Argibay extradition was approved. However, in the ruling they warned that the final decision corresponded to the Executive Branch.
Jaime Almonacid: “The past unites the Kirchner and Boric families”
Thus, a few days after the court decision, the government of Cristina Kirchner He decided grant Galvarino Apablaza the status of political refugeewhich was defined as “a blow and a setback” by the former president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera.
Two years after arriving at the Casa Rosada, the former president Mauricio Macri resolved the revocation of the status of political refugee, but did not advance in the extradition.
“The president raised his concern about the issue with me and obviously I took his considerations into account, clarifying from now on that it is a problem that can be resolved judicially in Argentina, but that It has nothing to do with the power of the Executive Powersaid this morning the president Alberto Fernandez.
What can happen with Apablaza
For Apablaza’s lawyer in Argentina, Rodolfo Yanzon, Boric’s visit to Argentina will not generate news regarding the situation of the alleged mastermind of Guzmán’s crime. Instead, he attributes the “pressure to talk about the issue” to the Independent Democratic Union, the Pinochet space.
“He continues with refugee status. Here the UDI is pressing, the Pinochet movement, which during the government of (Mauricio) Macri agreed with Argentina to cease their refuge with the argument that he had resorted to the Chilean diplomatic authorities for having been tortured and kidnapped during the Pinochet dictatorship,” he said in dialogue with PERFIL.
According to what the lawyer said, that decision made during the Macri government was appealed by Apablaza with the legal support of the National Ombudsman’s Office. The case is in the hands of the National Justice in Federal Administrative Litigationwhich must issue a decision about the underlying situation of the 71-year-old former militant.
“Everything indicates that we are going to have a favorable sentence because what Macri did was a scandal in violation of the Refugee Convention,” said the lawyer.
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