Two days following his appointment as head of National Defense, within the framework of the State of Exception decreed in the South Macrozone, President Gabriel Boric decided to remove -through its Minister of Defense, Maya Fernández-, Jorge Parga Balaresque from the post.
La Moneda had named the admiral in the provinces of Biobío and Arauco on Monday, May 16, and a day later he began his duties, following entering validity the State of Emergency in the area.
In the government, different sources confirm that The President’s decision – which will be finalized with the signing of a new decree for his replacement this followingnoon at 4:00 p.m. – is related to Parga’s defense of Corporal Leonardo Medinawho was formalized for the murder of Manuel Rebolledo in 2021. Boric himself met with the family during his campaign and promised them “truth and justice.”
On October 21, 2019, three days following the start of the social outbreak and under a state of emergency, Rebolledo was run over by an institutional truck Kia KM of the Navy in Talcahuano, Biobío Region, conducted by Medina. The report of Legal Medical Service determined that the cause of death was “cranioencephalic trauma”.
“The Navy as an institution is going to defend your servant, your official, because we are convinced that he is absolutely innocent of what he is being accused of. No way he committed a homicide”, Parga expressed on July 17, 2021 in dialogue with Biobío radio, while Medina was waiting for the prosecution’s accusation.
Four months later the Oral Criminal Court of Concepción convicted of quasi-murder to the Navy officer.
In In the last few hours, Rebolledo’s family issued a public statement in which they asked the head of state to reconsider his determination.
“We call on President Boric to remember when he was in our home days before the closing of his campaign, when he promised us justice, truth, reparation and memory. It is painful and unfortunate, but signs like that of Admiral Parga make us feel helpless and hopeless. We ask the government, and especially the President, to take into consideration the bad behavior of the Armed Forces in controlling public order, as happened during the social outbreak with our son Manuel, because the level of violence they exercised in the name of the State was exacerbated and culminated in the commission of serious crimes such as mutilations and homicides,” they maintained.
The second fact that involves Parga, and that had generated noise following his appointment, refers to the death of the Mapuche community member Jordan Light Machacan in November last year. The 23-year-old died following an armed confrontation between the Armed Forces and an unknown group on the road that connects the communes of Canete and Tiruain which two people were also killed and three were injured.
On that date, the State of Exception was in force in the South Macrozone, decreed by former President Sebastián Piñera and Parga served as head of the National Defense of Biobío.