It all started during a tribute to the late former president Piñera at the Universidad del Desarrollo, when the mayor of Providencia and current presidential candidate of Chile Vamos, Evelyn Matthei (UDI), said that “There is a lot of evidence that some politicians are financed with drug money.“.
Matthei also questioned the role of judges and prosecutors who take on cases against organized crime, and accused them of acting with weakness. “We don’t know if it is weakness or if they are bought or threatened,” she said.
Immediately afterwards, the Government and the Prosecutor’s Office asked Matthei to provide the background information that supports his statements. Incidentally, La Moneda has taken the opportunity to appeal to those who oppose the lifting of banking secrecy to combat organized crime.
“The question I would ask Mayor Matthei is whether corruption, and I share that judgment, is an extraordinarily serious threat to democracy, if we want to keep it secret. Today, bank secrecy allows a public official to be bought with money from a criminal organization; that money can be deposited in his or her checking account and is protected by bank secrecy. In other words, banking secrecy protects corruption,” the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, told Matthei on that occasion.
The one who also responded to Mayor Matthei was the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, describing her statements as “very serious” and “bold,” and that these types of accusations “delegitimize the institutions.”
The mayor said that two years ago she submitted a list of suspects related to crimes, including that of former Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda and Carabineros Major Emmanuel Sánchez. However, there are no names related to these cases on the list, said Undersecretary Monsalve, clarifying that the information provided by Matthei —related to a gang of motorcycle thieves in Providencia— was sent to the Eastern Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
Matthei also said that in his sector they are willing to lift banking secrecy, but maintained that they are not going to give it to a director of the Internal Revenue Service who “can do what he wants and that if he does not do what the Government likes , they remove it.”
From there came a double attack on Monsalve and Cordero: “I am struck by the urgency of the Government to try to polemicize with me. I call on Undersecretary Monsalve, who is the most serious one there, to stop polemicizing and to really worry about the main issue. The truth is that it is more difficult to expect the Minister of Justice to really get serious, but at least I would expect it from Monsalve.”
Today, in conversation with MeganoticiasMinister Cordero responded again to Mayor Matthei.
“I am here showing my face with the role I perform. I am accountable. “I am subject to certain obligations and certain risks,” she expressed, adding that she recognizes Evelyn Matthei’s professional career in the public sector.
However, “I think she has a serious problem (with) what type of advice she is receiving, because it has led her to make some mistakes and I don’t attribute it to bad faith or anything like that. Especially, I believe that she does not know the information that has been happening,” Luis Cordero added.
“She has explicitly said step.”
The head of Justice acknowledged having been very critical in one aspect and that is that “she explicitly pointed out that there were politicians financed by drug trafficking.” Codero reminded Matthei again that she is a public official and has a duty to report.
“I understand that days later, other of her colleagues (journalists) have asked her the question again, and in that she has explicitly said ‘step.’ I suppose it may have been an expression born of the moment, but the background is there, if she requires it,” the minister remarked.
It is worth mentioning that Undersecretary Monsalve explained that, after receiving Matthei’s famous list, contact was even made with the Public Prosecutor’s Office through the Legal Division of the Ministry of the Interior, and all the background information was handed over to the Money Laundering, Economic Crimes and Organized Crime Unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In fact, according to Monsalve, on March 31, 2023, they received an email indicating a series of ongoing investigations involving people on the list provided by the mayor.
With this, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the community leader “tried to show what she had contributed regarding motochorros in Providencia, but her accusation was much more serious, politicians said. “That is very serious.”
“One cannot use the fight against criminal organizations as a polarization strategy. The main beneficiaries of polarizing and divisive political strategies are criminal organizations. In fact, they benefit from the fact that politics is divided,” stated Cordero.
The head of Morandé 107 suggested that the mayor’s lawyers “probably should have reminded her that she was wrong, because I see that she has avoided that issue, and I think it is right not to insist on an issue, unless she has a solid background and that seems right to me, but to insist on the fight against criminal organizations.”
“This statement is complex because for criminal organizations to expand, they need corruption in the public sector and in politics, and there is no criminal organization that cannot advance in that,” added Cordero, while emphasizing that “there is no criminal organization that cannot expand if it does not inject all its illicit resources into the economy.” For that reason, he added, “for the private sector this issue is also so sensitive, and that is why the issues of bank secrecy are so important.”
“So, when you make a statement that politics is compromised, it is very serious for democracy, that is my only point. She can have specific points and say ‘look, I handed over 75 (…) and I think it is fine for her to make her point, but that other statement, I think it is very harmful for democracy, that is my only point,” he concluded.
Riots in High Security Prison
The Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, also addressed the riot at the Special High Security Penitentiary Facility (Repas). Cordero assured that those involved “will be formalized and will face very high penalties,” with the possibility of increasing their current sentences.
On August 8, for the first time, those responsible for the high-security prison riot will be charged in the same case, among whom are the most dangerous inmates in the country, such as members of the Tren de Aragua, Los Pulpos and other groups. criminals.
“They are under a strict high security regime and are subject to rigorous discipline,” said the Secretary of State, highlighting that the Gendarmerie has filed a complaint. “The State will apply the full force of the Rule of Law on them,” he stressed in an interview with the aforementioned media.
The minister said that the restrictive regimes limiting visits and contacts with inmates will be maintained. He also described the profile of those involved as people from different prison cultures, characterized by challenging prison authority.
Cordero also referred to the need to optimize the administration of preventive detention to ensure effective segregation and facilitate reintegration. “When there is overpopulation, prisons become recruitment hotspots for organizations with tax funds,” the minister concluded.
