The spokesperson of the Chilean Government, Camila Vallejo, has acknowledged the non-compliance with the requirements set for granting pardon to protesters arrested in the framework of the social outburst of November 2019.
According to Vallejo, the country’s president, Gabriel Boric, had established two fundamental requirements for the pardon: that the detention was linked to crimes during the social outburst and that they had no «previous complex background».
However, despite these criteria, the government granted during the last days of 2022 the pardon to more than a dozen protesters including Lis Castillo, who had previously been convicted of five common crimes between 2005 and 2017, according to the television channel T13.
«That second criterion was the one that was not met. As a result of a series of irregularities for which, evidently, political responsibilities were assumed (…) Indeed, if the president had had all the elements in sight, the situation would have been different,» Vallejo remarked.
These «irregularities» referred to by the spokesperson of the Executive already provoked last week the resignation of the Minister of Justice, Marcela Ríos, and also that of Matías Meza-Lopehandía as Chief of Cabinet. Boric himself then came out to recognize that when this type of situation occurs, «responsibilities must be assumed».
In spite of everything, Vallejo has insisted on the legality of the pardons, beyond the fact that one of the requirements set by the authorities has not been fulfilled. Thus, he has rejected outright the request of some members of the opposition to revoke such measures of grace.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
