Author: Cristián Farías R. / June 2, 2024
“How strong,” exclaimed Carmen Gloria Arroyo when remembering the case that made her cry and hug the defendant, asking for forgiveness on behalf of the entire society. The case of Don Benancio, 60 years old, who in 2014 gave a lesson in humanity and kindness that shook the lawyer and her face and continues to move her to this day.
In Podemos Hablar he recalled it:
«That case continues to shake me, Don Benancio. I have never forgotten his name. This was long before the social outbreak, long before the media spoke openly about that Chile that we sometimes hide, that we sometimes make invisible.
«Don Benancio arrives at the program sued by his daughter-in-law for alimony, because the son (a son who Benancio recognized as his father) did not pay alimony. He was the grandfather. And the journalists on the team begin to investigate and realize, and I find out there, in the program, with the images, that Don Benancio had two children with severe disabilities, over 40 years old.
«That he lived in very poor conditions, not even precarious. She lived in a room with no floor, no light. That she would wake up her two children in the morning and take them to a care facility during the day. He went out to collect metal and cardboard in the streets, he sold them and it was enough for him to live. And he was also sick with cancer.
«There was such a beautiful natural reaction. She was filled with donations for Don Benancio. His house could be built again, a more dignified house. Refrigerators and washing machines arrived. We gave him a new chance.
«And we had a part two, where Don Benancio moved us again. Because when we asked him how he felt, what he was going to do with all the things he had received, he said ‘it turns out that I received three refrigerators, I need one and I want to donate the other two, I want to donate the other kitchen that I received.’
«He was in a state of total need, thinking about helping others who were worse off than him. And that is the minute of reflection that this tremendous story of Don Benancio left us. What I do, by coming down from the state and embracing him, was to ask for forgiveness for the society in which we are living, that we are incapable of seeing the one who suffers, the one who is so bad, next to us, but we make him invisible. We build roads with walls so we don’t see them. We live in other neighborhoods so we don’t know they exist. But they exist. They are there”.
