Nine players from the Cobreloa quarry, a soccer club that competes in the Chilean First Division tournament, have been detained to face formalization this Friday for their alleged participation in a group rape against a young woman, an event that occurred during the year 2021 in a sports team facility in the city of Calama, in the Antofagasta region, 1,500 kilometers north of Santiago de Chile.
Two of the arrested athletes are part of the first team of the Calama squad. The rest had left the club to join the ranks of professional teams in the cities of Osorno and Santiago. The arrests, which were carried out this Thursday, took place in the respective areas in which the accused resided. The hearing where the charges against him were announced was held behind closed doors, without access to the press, after the Calama Guarantee Court determined the high sensitivity of the data presented by the interveners. The Prosecutor’s Office has requested preventive detention for all those involved.
The accusation dates back to September 16, 2021, when the victim – then 18 years old – was invited by a friend to a party inside the Casa Naranja, a venue where the Cobreloa youth soccer players live. At the celebration there was consumption of alcohol and drugs. According to the complainant’s story, a group of players took advantage of the opportunity to sexually abuse her. The accused are Óscar Ramírez Mendoza, Cristóbal Saravia Arredondo, Jhan Góngora Ordoñez (of Colombian origin), Rivaldo Hernández Pizarro, Nicolás Navarro Villafuerte, Patricio Romero Leiva, Lucas Román Avilés, Joaquín Agüero Núñez and Luciano Parra Villanueva.
The woman said that she filed a complaint with the authorities and that in the medical examination signs of sexual violence against her were determined. However, she assured that the officials of the Investigative Police (PDI) who were supposed to take the accusation against her, called her to desist. The case did not progress and the accused remained in the sports institution. The investigation was reactivated in October 2023 after the publication of a report from the digital media The citizen, which collected the testimony of the affected woman and who denounced the inaction of the soccer team to address the issue. Added to this was the intervention of the Sports Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, which, pushed by the independent left-wing representative, Marisela Santibáñez, convened a special investigative commission, which must determine the responsibilities of the various organizations involved in the treatment of the complaint.
Although the formalization hearing was held in a hermetic manner, the local media managed to access some details of the accusation. The reports from the Sexual Crimes Investigative Brigade of the Investigative Police (PDI) and the Public Ministry indicate that of the nine footballers arrested, eight had committed direct sexual assault against the victim, while one of them participated in recording the events. The medical reports and physical examinations that the victim underwent were also considered as evidence, which confirmed the traces of abuse, according to what was published by the newspaper. Third.
The club’s reaction
Last March, Cobreloa delivered the results of an investigation carried out by an external team of lawyers, which ruled out the reported facts. After the arrest and formalization of the players, the club had to take a turn and suspend the accused until the criminal process against them is closed. The National Association of Professional Football (ANFP), the body that administers Chilean professional football, has said that it will take all actions to apply the corresponding sporting sanctions against the accused. “This association reiterates its total willingness to collaborate with the ongoing investigation, so that the serious facts reported are clarified and the maximum rigor of the law is applied against those found responsible,” the entity said in a statement.
The apparent inaction of Cobreloa leaders has caught the attention of government authorities. The Minister of Women, Antonia Orellana, has highlighted the suspension of the accused players, but has questioned the team’s actions since the complaint was filed. “First of all, there is a club that has been very resistant to admitting that there is a problem here, two weeks ago they said otherwise; [en segundo lugar] a type of crime that is very difficult to configure and that involves a lot of pact of silence; and thirdly, apparently a first reception that was not correct,” the authority declared in an interview with the news channel. 24 hours.
The investigation, known by the media as The Cobreloa pack Due to its similarity to what happened in San Fermín in Spain, it has hit one of the most winning soccer teams in the Chilean league. After Colo Colo, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Católica—clubs that are called big Due to its multiple sporting achievements and its high attendance of fans, the Calama team is the one that has won the national tournament the most times with eight titles. The institution, which was founded in 1977 on the edge of Codelco’s Chuquicamata copper mine, played in the finals of the Copa Libertadores in 1981 and 1982. During the last decades the loina squad It experienced a profound decline, which led it to be relegated to the First B (second division) in 2015. It returned to the first category of local football during this season.
The Cobreloa quarry has been one of the most prolific in Chilean football. Players who have triumphed in international football such as Alexis Sánchez, Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aránguiz have emerged from the lower divisions of the Calama team.
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