An emergency meeting was led on Thursday, following 7:00 p.m., in La Moneda by the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches.
The Secretary of State analyzed together with her main advisers -among others her chief of staff, Ana Lya Uriarte– solutions to the complex crisis that had been unleashed hours before, when due to an error by the Legal Division -depending on his portfolio- the government was left out of the emblematic Hurricane casein which Carabineros officials are accused of implanting false evidence to accuse Mapuche community members of terrorist acts.
After the appointment, the decision was clear: remove the director of that division, the independent lawyer Camila Barros (37). Although the jurist would not leave -for now- the ministry and would be relocated to her functions, next Monday, The criminal lawyer Luppy Aguirre will assume the position in his place.
The milestone was serious and Siches and President Gabriel Boric understood it that way. Yesterday followingnoon he himself revealed that he contacted the Secretary of State to discuss the issue. Those who knew of the exchange between the two assure that the president’s tone was aimed at understanding the chain of events that ended with a serious mistake of this nature. He himself warned publicly -in an activity in Viña del Mar- that it was an “unacceptable” situation and that responsibilities should be pursued.
“(Must) exhaust all legal instances. I understand that there is the possibility of appeal. Now, the characteristics of this error -from my point of view- they are unacceptable and of course there must be responsibilities, I am going to discuss it with the minister to evaluate where that error was made, I understand that it is previous, that it came a while ago. And they are going to have to take responsibility, without a doubt.”
Boric also added yesterday that “this calls into question the legitimacy of the persecution. And we need to have institutions that are legitimate before the citizens to combat crime and delinquency. This is totally relevant and we will not stop pursuing those responsible.”
His statements were given just hours following the coordinator of the criminal area, Javiera Corvalan, was notified of the ruling of the Court of Temuco, in which an appeal was declared inadmissible, thus leaving the Executive out of the case. This, following Judge Marcia Castillo decided in mid-May to exclude the government as a plaintiff. for not correcting formal flaws in his accusation.
The controversy complicates the interior minister once more, who has had to restructure her teams following the mistakes she has made since she took office. The delivery of false information to the Chamber of Deputies, where it accused the previous government of hiding the return of a plane with expelled migrants, forced it to remove its former chief of staff Roberto Estay, and to reinforce its teams with militants from ruling parties, such as Victor Ramos (CS).
Siches -following meeting with the Chilean Association of Municipalities- broached the subject and, Along with accusing attempts to exclude the government from the case, he announced the changes to the legal team.
“I want to convey to the country that this (Hurricane) is a case of the utmost relevance for our government (…). It has caught our attention how the preparation of the oral trial has already taken more than two and a half years, how one of the hearings has taken more than a year, and that is why one of the first actions that we took as a government in March of this year was to present a disciplinary complaint once morest how the course of this process has been”said the minister.
“Likewise, as the Ministry of the Interior we are the plaintiff and we have been insisting and persisting, despite the fact that both the defense and the different processes have repeatedly tried to exclude us as an active part of this investigation. And not just us. Also to the CDE and the INDH. But I want to state that we are going to persist and insist, and exhaust all the instances that are within our reach, to continue being the plaintiff as the Ministry of the Interior. We will also observe as a government that this trial can be carried out in the prudent times that an investigation of such relevance requires, ”he warned.
“Beyond this particular case, I also want to take advantage of this instance to communicate that for some time now, as the Ministry of the Interior, we have been reinforcing the teams. And this is how we made the decision to also reinforce our Legal Division team. Since Monday, the criminal lawyer Luppy Aguirre, with extensive experience, will assume the leadership of the division, and will come to reinforce the work we do,” she added.
“Beyond this particular case, I also want to take advantage of this instance to communicate that for some time now, as the Ministry of the Interior, we have been reinforcing the teams. And this is how we made the decision to also reinforce our Legal Division team. Since Monday, the criminal lawyer Luppy Aguirre, with extensive experience, will assume the leadership of the division, and will come to reinforce the work we do,” she added.
Aguirre is the coordinating attorney of the Criminal Litigation Unit of the State Defense Council, an organization where she has worked since 1994, from where she participates in the most important trials in which the Treasury intervenes in the criminal field. She has worked in emblematic corruption cases, such as Penta, SQM and Corpesca, and is one of the most experienced professionals in the organization.
As a staff official of the CDE, she will make use of the authorization granted by letter e of Article 87 of the Administrative Statute, which states that her functions are compatible “with positions that have the quality of exclusive trust and with those whose appointment is by legally determined deadlines. In that sense, her quota in the organization will be “reserved”, not having to resign or process a service commission.
Camila Barros entered the government of Gabriel Boric on March 11, as director of the Legal Division, which she joined for the second government of Michelle Bachelet when it was led by Luis Blue beltand worked there even well into the second administration of Sebastian Pinera.
The installation of the new team of the legal division has not been calm.
The debut of the lawyer graduated from Diego Portales University was marked by the withdrawal of the 139 complaints filed in the framework of open cases following the social outbreak, in which the government had invoked the State Security Law. It was one of the priority promises of the new government. At lunchtime on the same March 11, the day that Boric was inaugurated as President, Barros arrived at the Teatinos 72 offices – where the division operates – and gave the order that no one leave the premises until each one was reviewed. of the complaints, the writs will be prepared and submitted to the court. Finally, the withdrawal of these complaints as the first “gesture” to the prisoners of the outbreak did not free anyone.
Almost a month following its installation, much of the team of lawyers that existed until that moment changed. The output that attracted the most attention among the officials of the Ministry of the Interior was that of Charles Flowers, a lawyer who headed the judicial unit and had been working in the portfolio since 2004. With this, they had to look for other names to fill the vacancies, mostly young professionals. In his replacement came Corvalán and other professionals: Pedro Vidal, Paula Astudillo, Sofía Wilson, Fernando Guerra and Samuel Malamud.
In La Araucanía there were also key movements. Sergio Arevalo, the lawyer who represented the Ministry of the Interior in La Araucanía since 2018, was fired. The professional was under the figure of a fee contract, and was one of the professionals in charge of drafting and filing complaints for rural violence in the area. The dismissals caused a group of ex-professionals to present a compensation action before the labor court accusing them of political reasons for their departures.
“The legal division of the Ministry of the Interior has a special importance with respect to other ministries, its function is not restricted to legal advice to the authorities of the Ministry, but they are also the lawyers who litigate criminal cases in which, due to their relevance social, the Ministry is a plaintiff and takes criminal action, ”says the former Undersecretary of the Interior Juan Francisco Galli. “That is why the lawyers who worked in that division had years of experience in litigation, they knew in detail high-profile public trials such as the cases of bomb attacks, the lawsuits under the anti-terrorist law and the State Security law, and they were part of a State policy that did not change from one government to another (…) Unfortunately, there seems to be no awareness of the relevance of the Internal Affairs Legal Division and now they are seeing the consequences of depriving themselves of useful tools to confront violence” , he adds.
