The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, announced the government’s decision to revoke 25 grace pensions granted to victims of injuries during the social outbreak who had convictions for serious crimes or had received the benefit irregularly. The revocation process was completed with the entry of 24 decrees by the Legal Division of the Interior on February 19, adding to a previous case delivered to the Comptroller’s Office the previous week.

This administrative measure exposes each particular case that will lose the benefit and must be reviewed by the Comptroller’s Office within a period of 15 business days. The controlling entity issued a report on January 25 evidencing irregularities in the delivery of these pensions, which led the Executive to make the decision to revoke them.

Among the irregularities pointed out by the Comptroller’s Office were criminal convictions of 58 pensioners, some for violent crimes such as sexual abuse and homicide. Records without clear medical history and poorly legible or contradictory medical certificates were also detected. The lack of adequate validation of the background information violated principles of control and transparency.