Aldo Anfossi

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, October 25, 2024, p. 24

Santiago. Our duty is to believe, I believe youdeclared yesterday the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, regarding the woman who reported having been raped by her hierarchical superior, the now former Undersecretary of the Interior Manuel Monsalve, a trusted man of the president in charge of combating crime.

It is the duty of justice, without any pressure, to determine impartially the guilt or not of the accusedhe continued.

The case, which emerged a week ago and which has the government on the ropes, grew in severity after it was learned that Monsalve used the prerogatives he had as a political authority responsible for public security to access evidence that could incriminate him and also to dissuade him. his subordinate to report him.

The events refer to the night of September 22 to 23, when Monsalve met the woman at a restaurant in the capital, and then, without his police escort, took a taxi to the hotel where he used to stay.

When a woman reports something as serious as a rape, it is unimaginable what must have happened to make the decision to go to justice, even more so against someone who has more power.Boric said at a public event.

No one is exempt from another committing crimes, betraying trust, violating the law or right. The question is how we react to that, and we have to react firmly, without privileges, without corporate defenses.he added.

On Wednesday, in a court hearing, prosecutor Xavier Armendáriz recounted how Monsalve ordered the intelligence unit of the Investigative Police to intervene after the events.

The first detective who spoke with the victim was a person within the course of these proceedingswhich consisted of reviewing the records of the restaurant and hotel security cameras, adding that “the accused Monsalve pointed out to the Investigative Police and we know it from the statement of an official “That he asked them to approach the victim,” he said.

While the right exploits the case at will, in the government and political coalitions that support it, recriminations are the order of the day. There is open talk of betrayal and calls for heads: those of the Ministers of the Interior, Carolina Tohá – Monsalve’s direct superior – and of Women, Antonia Orellana, in addition to being in conflict with each other.

Last night, in a television interview, lawyer María Elena Santibáñez said that her client received threats so that she would not sue the former Undersecretary of the Interior, and that the messages were sent by officials from the same area in which she works.

“Indeed, she would have received some type of threat, in the sense of ‘you know that you could appear dead, something could happen to you or another person’, (threats) of this type,” Santibáñez said.

He also assured that detectives tried to communicate with his client before the complaint was filed.