The mayor of Providencia and current presidential card of Chile Vamos, Evelyn Matthei (UDI), has been questioned by the Government and the Prosecutor’s Office to support with evidence the serious accusations made against political and judicial sectors of the country.
During a tribute to the late former president Sebastián Piñera at the Universidad del Desarrollo, Matthei accused the “extreme left” of facilitating the entry of organized crime into Chile and suggested that judges and prosecutors could be committed to drug trafficking, without presenting concrete evidence in this regard. . These statements have generated an intense reaction in the political and judicial sphere.
“We don’t know if it is weakness or because they are bought or threatened,” said Evelyn Matthei at the event convened by the Freedom and Democracy Group, in the presence of the Piñera Morel family, leaders of Piñerism, and leaders of the right and center-right. region of; Mauricio Macri (Argentina), Iván Duque (Colombia), Mario Abdo Benítez (Paraguay), Luis Lacalle Pou (Uruguay) and Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (Chile), among them.
According to Matthei, “There is plenty of evidence that there are already politicians who finance themselves with drug money.“.
The Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, described the mayor’s statements as “very serious” and questioned the lack of concrete evidence to support her statements. “If she has an objective background, as a public official she has the duty to report them,” he emphasized in a press release.
For Minister Cordero, the presidential candidate’s statements “delegitimize the institutions.” Therefore, “less wedges and more specific background“Remarked the Secretary of State.
In a similar position, the Government Minister Spokesperson, Camila Vallejo, indicated that “when debates sometimes lack evidence, speculation leads.” Also in statements to the press, the minister maintained that “we have precisely had to assume the task of strengthening the institutional capacities of the State and border control, because when we entered the Government we realized that they were deeply weakened.”
“Our country needs high-level debates and these debates, rather than entering into speculation, we believe that they have to be based on evidence, and we are also dealing with such important issues as the pension reform, the fiscal pact, and continuing to push the security agenda. “added Vallejo, head of the General Secretariat of Government.
For his part, the national prosecutor Ángel Valencia stated that any relevant information about alleged payments or threats must be delivered to the justice system for its corresponding investigation. “These are extremely serious situations that must be treated seriously and rigorously,” Valencia said.
“Any citizen who has information about an individual, what we hope is that they provide that information to the justice system so that we can investigate them in accordance with the law,” added the head of the Public Ministry.
Deputy Gonzalo Winter (CS) also joined the call, urging Matthei to present concrete evidence if she wants to be taken seriously as a political leader. “Allegations about organized crime are serious and must be treated responsibly,” he said.
The next step will be to see if Matthei backs up his statements with concrete facts or if he retracts his statements, in a context where the credibility of the institutions and political stability are at stake, just over four months before the municipal and regional elections. October and with the presidential race unleashed.
