Girardi, Quintana and Tohá, the gravediggers of the PPD

Hello good! The week when Chilean politics shook! I had not yet arrived from my trip to the Falklands/Malvinas, when the news of the departure of the general director of the PDI due to the Hermosilla case exploded and, later, we learned of the loss of the opportunity that the PPD had on a plate to lead the Senate in election year. Add to that the general director of the Carabineros who does not want to resign and the closure of Huachipato, and I forgot all the penguins I saw last week in the Atlantic archipelago.

The political news with the potential to be the one of the year. The PPD lost the opportunity to lead the Senate in a key year for the Government and ended up handing over the table to an opposition that could not be happier. Difficult to understand this defeat when there was a written agreement and several names available. The designated candidate was the mistake. We tell you who is responsible for this event that competes to be “the political news of the year 2024.”

Luis Hermosilla’s phone began to drip with news. The business, judicial and political world trembles after the first WhatsApp messages between the criminal lawyer and the now former director general of the Investigative Police became known. This is just beginning, say those who know the case.

What to do with the general director of the Carabineros. The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, announced the doctrine and the Minister of Justice opened the door for the general’s resignation. But the plans of the chief of the uniformed police are different.

And in the bonus track of this edition: an interview with academic Mauricio Duce, where he explains the effects of the Hermosilla case. Furthermore, Karol Cariola (PC) wants to be a senator and is already clear about where; We also tell the relationship of the deputy comptroller with Leonarda Villalobos; and Minister Elizalde’s attempts to change the elections in the PS.

A crisis is coming in the capital’s public transportation and that is evident in some meetings of the Minister of Transportation that we will see in the Lobby Corner. And a very interesting recommendation for this week: the new newsletter of science from El Mostrador, Parallel universewritten with the good handwriting of the doctor in Physics Andrés Gomberoff.
Before starting, I want to invite you to share or join +Politics, our community grows more every day. If you have not joined yet, I invite you to Sign up or share this newsletter.

THE MANEUVER THAT BURIED THE PPD AND RUINED A KEY YEAR OF THE GOVERNMENT

Guido Girardi in glory and majesty. Those of us who believed that Girardi’s influence in the PPD had been diminished after his candidate for party president, Natalia Piergentili, handed that position to Senator Jaime Quintana in the September 2023 party elections were wrong. It seemed like the decline of a historic leadership, but no: the election of the new president of the Senate this week showed that Girardi is still snoring loudly in the PPD.

There was celebration for the appointment of Pedro Araya (PPD). On the day of the vote, on the Senate steps, Senator Araya’s partner, former Minister of Justice Javiera Blanco, was present; and Eugenio “Pingüino” González, the well-known operator in the Judiciary and a man close to Girardi. Blanco and González attended to celebrate the appointment of Pedro Araya as president of the Senate. “They couldn’t believe it,” a senator told me.
Those who were left on the road. The natural candidates for the position were the senators of that party, Ximena Órdenes and Loreto Carvajal, and in case there was no consensus, there was talk of Ricardo Lagos Weber – La Moneda’s preferred candidate. However, Guido Girardi decided that it should be the ex-DC, ex-PRI and recently registered PPD, Pedro Araya. The president of the party, Jaime Quintana, did not hesitate to be with Girardi and supported the new militant Araya.

The mistake of proposing Araya for the presidency of the Senate was Guido Girardi’s idea, supported by the party’s helmsman, Jaime Quintana. The serious thing is not only that Araya lost, but also that this raised the profile of Renovación Nacional with José García Ruminot as president of the Upper House and Democrats with Matías Walker in the vice presidency, in a year in which the Government was confident in that he was going to be able to execute key reforms of his program, such as pensions and a fiscal pact, in addition to managing several appointments in the Judiciary and defining the name for the Comptroller General of the Republic. Year of the municipal elections… and the PPD gives the Senate to the opposition.

In the Girardismo they blame the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, due to the lack of expertise to manage the crisis and his insistence that only Ricardo Lagos Weber could be the person who led the Senate. The inability to achieve a consensus name ended up giving space to the right to make its move with Democrats and install itself in the presidency of the Upper House until March 2025, they say in the Girardismo.
Where is Minister Álvaro Elizalde? What happened on Wednesday is similar to what happened on March 8, 2023, when the Chamber of Deputies rejected the idea of legislating Mario Marcel’s tax reform. That failure cost the then Segpres minister, Ana Lya Uriarte, her job. The atmosphere in Parliament is very complicated and only confrontation remains: “They will have to be brought to the blackboard when they begin to boycott the discussion of the pension reform or other reforms for the people.“A minister told me. In the ruling party there are several who affirm that the minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Álvaro Elizalde, did not mind seeing the PPD disappear, so that the idea of the PS-FA-PC alliance is strengthened.

The PPD disappears from the political arena. There had been doubts for a long time regarding the specific weight of the Party for Democracy, especially after the community failed to elect any of its candidates for the Constitutional Council, on May 7, 2023. The party’s last chance to survive was to lead the Senate, the most prestigious chamber in Parliament, processing relevant laws in an election year..

LUIS HERMOSILLA’S PHONE DRIPPING STARTED

And where was the bribe? A prominent lawyer who knows the State very well was struck by something that is not minor: “The Prosecutor’s Office was working on the thread of the eventual bribery that was revealed in the recording of Leonarda Villalobos, that is the main case, but now these other threads of the messages found on Hermosilla’s phone are beginning to appear, they say that there are 700,000 pages of messages “This is just beginning.”. In the judicial environment, there is concern that this type of trickle-down revelations will end up minimizing the bribery case that affects Luis Hermosilla.

Willingness to collaborate. On the Friday afternoon when the raids on the house and office of the now former director general of the Investigative Police, Sergio Muñoz, became known, lawyer Luis Hermosilla testified for four hours at the Prosecutor’s Office about the Muñoz case. Hermosilla is collaborating with these investigations, they say in the prosecution agency.

The appointments are coming. The other thread that could be uncovered would be that of influence peddling and efforts for appointments in the Judiciary, which could affect important lawyers and ministers of the Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

In the Government, the article that appeared in Thirdand that provided background information on Luis Hermosilla’s relationship with Hernán Larraín, former Minister of Justice of the last Piñera Government.. Specifically, an interview was recalled in which Larraín said: “When I was Minister of Justice I had to appoint more than four thousand judges and I came to the conviction, while there, that this was the worst possible system and that it had to be changed to end that discretion and have an objective system with good records that allow us to achieve the appointment of the best judgess”. In La Moneda they told me that it seemed that Larraín was putting on “the patch before the wound.”

Questions about drug trafficking. A former member of the Supreme Court told me, with reservation of his identity, about a visit he made to the office of Hermosilla and Chadwick, when he was applying to be a member of the highest court: “I was in several contests for the Supreme Court and on one occasion a person I know called me and told me that Chadwick and Hermosilla wanted to meet me and find out how I thought. I went with my friend to his office on El Bosque Street with Isidora Goyenechea and I told them to ask me whatever they wanted and they asked me for my opinion on issues of drug trafficking, justice procedures and others. The former supreme president told me that “kissing hands” is still common in the Supreme Court to integrate the quina, as well as contacts with those in power so that the President elects you and then with the senators so that they vote for you in the Senate.

The end of the roof society. People close to Hermosilla pointed out to me that the lawyer has cut off relations with former minister Andrés Chadwick since he, last November, removed his things from the office they shared in Alonso de Córdova with Vitacura. In Chadwick’s circle, meanwhile, it is common to hear that they warned him that Luis Hermosilla was not the right partner for him; even an important leader of the UDI told me that he had had problems with the former Minister of the Interior because of his relationship with the lawyer. Both parties agree that the relationship between them ended after Leonarda Villalobos’ recording became known.

THE DIRECTOR GENERAL DOES NOT WANT TO RESIGN

Problematic case. The surprising departure of the general director of the Investigative Police, Sergio Muñoz, motivated what we knew as the “Government doctrine”, announced by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve – after a meeting he held with the head of that portfolio, Carolina Tohá, and the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero–, and in which he pointed out that the formalization was a “turning point” for the then head of the PDI.

Last Sunday, the “Government doctrine” increased its tone, when Minister Cordero said in “Zero Tolerance” that it was appropriate for the general director of Carabineros, Ricardo Yáñez, to resign before being formalized. The big question is whether the general intends to resign before May 7.

The answer would be “not yet.” Yáñez’s strategy would be aimed at postponing the formalization scheduled for May 7 until October of this year, when his period at the helm of the institution ends. The idea would be to spend the commemoration of Carabinero Day (April 27) in peace, they say in the uniformed police.

It is the Carabineros institution. The ministers and the undersecretary agreed that Friday that any official who is going to be formalized must leave the position they hold, so as not to harm the institution they direct. In La Moneda they told me that the objective is to prevent them from using the institution for their defense.

Bad news. In the Government they say that there are several signals that General Yáñez has given that involve the institution, among them, they mention the withdrawal to the other commanders in Chief and the PDI of the motorcycle escorts that Carabineros provides for their travel by car. Yáñez would be upset with the other branches of the Armed Forces and the PDI for the lack of support for its formalization.

President warns in the middle of the police station. The words of Undersecretary Monsalve and Minister Cordero were endorsed by President Gabriel Boric on Monday morning, while a police station was inaugurated in Maipú with the presence of General Ricardo Yáñez himself. “In Chile there can be no type of difference and no one is above the law. Whatever last name the person has or is in the position they are in, starting from the President of the Republic downwards“said the President.

A defense that doesn’t help at all. The general’s defense strategy is not seen well by the Prosecutor’s Office, members of the Judiciary and not even in La Moneda. They consider it a mistake that his lawyer, Jorge Martínez, instructed his client not to appear before the Public Ministry, that he attacked prosecutors Ximena Chong and Xavier Armendáriz and, now last, that he is involving the institution in his defense. Complex days are coming for general director Ricardo Yáñez.

QUESTIONS TO PROFESSOR MAURICIO DUCE

Mauricio Duce is a criminal lawyer and professor of Law at the Diego Portales University, where he teaches classes in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure. He was program director of the Center for Justice Studies of the Americas (CEJA) and representative in Chile of the Center for Justice and International Law. He also advised the Ministry of Justice within the framework of the Criminal Procedure Reform between 1996 and 2000.

In this interview I ask him about the case that affects the criminal lawyer Luis Hermosilla and the effects it will have both on the practice of law and on the image of the Judiciary.

-Does this case call into question the practice of law, the profession of lawyer?

-I don’t think the role of lawyers is in question. In this case, lawyers with a very particular type of practice have been shown. This makes it clear that the role of lawyers is extremely delicate and, therefore, from a social point of view it would be worth reviewing the ethical controls and the ways in which the profession is practiced, so that this type of situation does not occur. . I think it is important to emphasize that people’s most everyday experience with lawyers is not in criminal cases, and lawyers provide a fundamental service that is difficult to replace.

-Is what we have known in this case a widespread ancient practice or only a few?

-It has been known for a long time that this was the basis of the exercise of the profession in the context of the inquisitorial system. It was a time when what was important was the access and contacts that lawyers had to different types of authorities. This was something well known and talked about a lot, but it occurred in a small group of privileged lawyers.

The change in the criminal procedural system produced a significant reduction in these practices, because the main decisions of the system are made in public hearings, which produced a restriction on this type of practices because, independent of access, you had to have the ability to defend and win in public hearings with justification of the rulings by the judges. However, over the years these ancient practices of privileged access have been reconstructed, but there are very few cases and it is not the general format of the practice of the profession. No matter how few these cases are, they are very damaging to the image of the profession and the functioning of the system.

-How do you end these practices?

-We must be stricter with the regulation of calls and the development of relationships where there may be a conflict of interest. In my opinion, the standards have been relaxed and it is an area where much more light must be shed to more clearly establish the incompatibilities and the regulation of access records, just as is happening in other areas of the State.

HALLWAY CONVERSATIONS

– Karol Cariola wants to be senator for Valparaíso. Last week we reported that a complex battle is coming in the Valparaíso Region (or 6th Constituency) to replace three popular and historic senators who are finishing their third term in office, the maximum allowed by law. Isabel Allende (PS) and Ricardo Lagos Weber (PPD) leave the ruling party, while Senator Francisco Chahuán (RN) leaves his position vacant in the opposition. They called me to tell me more about it.

The new name circulating to compete as senator in the region is Karol Cariola (PC)who has a lot of support in the Socialist Party due to his closeness with the deputy Tomás de Rementería and with the young group of the PS in the Chamber.
On the right They added the possibility that the former deputy and former senator Marcela Sabat (RN) will also enter to compete in said constituency.
These two names would be added to others mentioned, such as Maya Fernandez (PS), Guido Girardi (PPD), Francisco Undurraga (Evopoli) and Andrew Longton (RN).
This ballot is going to be the most disputed of the 2025 elections. The uncertainty in this scenario is great, taking into account that the senators who remain in the race obtained very few votes in the last elections. Juan Ignacio Latorre (RD) obtained 4.6% of the votes and Kenneth Pugh (RN) was elected with 2.1% of the votes. It is a choice that is open.

– Who rules in the PS. A sector of Thirdism headed by Minister Álvaro Elizalde is postulating the idea that His party must change the election of the table stipulated for July and move it to December 2024.

The current president of the community, Paulina Vodanovic – also a “tercerista”, but from a different faction than Elizalde – would not agree with postponing the election for seven months.
In Senator Vodanovic’s circle they point out that This change aims to place the election of the board after the municipal elections, which are next October, and that a failure in said elections would seal its fate.
The PS helmsman wants to run for re-election in May, to be able to face tranquility in the municipal elections and the next two years of Government.
Paulina Vodanovic has the support of historical socialists, such as Ricardo Núñez, José Antonio Viera-Gallo, Mahmud Aleuy and Marcelo Schilling, among others. Elizalde would have the support of Camilo Escalona.

– Leonarda Villalobos’ phone messages. This week it was learned that there were also surprises on the cell phone of the lawyer who recorded the recording. However, so far only her exchange with Comptroller(s) Dorothy Pérez has been known.

At the same time that the WhatsApp messages of the lawyer Luis Hermosilla with the director of Investigations were known, Cyprus published information from Leonarda Villalobos’ cell phone in which a conversation with Dorothy Pérez appeared. The WhatsApps that mentioned said meeting were never known in detail, but the news quickly circulated and the deputy comptroller responded to the aforementioned media’s queries.
Those who have known Leonarda Villalobos say that she was someone who made many gestures towards people in order to get closer to them and establish closer relationships. This is what happened to Rodrigo Topelberg, Daniel Sauer’s partner at Factop: despite not having a professional relationship, he gave his son a shirt signed by a prominent European footballer and periodically sent gifts to other members of the Topelberg family.
Leonarda’s husband. The current deputy comptroller held the position of head of the Legal Division of the Ministry of Education at the beginning of the second Government of Michelle Bachelet, when the head of that portfolio was Nicolás Eyzaguirre (March 2014 – July 2015). In those months, Pérez coincided with Villalobos’ husband, Luis Angulo (PPD), who worked with the chief of cabinet advisors, Exequiel Silva (DC).
In December 2015, Dorothy Pérez went to work at the Comptroller General of the Republic, where she was second to the then comptroller Jorge Bermúdez and cut ties with Education. It was after the complex dispute she had with Bermúdez that Angulo called her to ask her professional questions, at the beginning of 2023, when she worked at the Ministry of National Assets.
As a result of this connection, in March of last year, Pérez went to a meeting at the home of the Angulo-Villalobos couple. and several other friends of the couple. There was a second invitation that did not materialize and, on November 9, Leonarda sent him a WhatsApp message wishing him luck and strength in the future, which was responded to by Dorothy Pérez with an emoticon. The next day, Villalobos wrote to him “You didn’t even catch me…“. On November 14, Cyprus publishes the recording of Leonarda Villalobos made in Luis Hermosilla’s office.

AGENDA OF THE WEEK

district week in the House and Senate.
Monday 25th: Deputy Comptroller General of the Republic, Dorothy Pérez, prepares her public account.
Thursday 28: Government enters indications for short isapres law.
Thursday 28: National Prosecutor, Ángel Valencia, appoints the Regional Prosecutor of O’Higgins.

LOBBY CORNER

– Passenger transportation companies and their workers’ unions meet with the Minister of Transportation, Juan Carlos Muñoz, due to the crisis in the sector.He “Super Monday” On March 4, the collective transportation workers threatened a strike that ultimately did not materialize and we wanted to see Minister Muñoz’s meetings on this issue:

Three meetings with companies in the passenger transport sector stand out on the minister’s list of meetings. The last one registered is with the National Confederation of Major and Minor Transport Workers (Confenared), which represents the workers who threatened with a transport strike for the “super monday“from March 4. The meeting occurred on March 2 and the objective was to express to the Secretary of State his “concern about the economic situation of companies, RBU, STU, METROPOL“.

This meeting was preceded by two meetings with the companies involved. RBU met with the minister on January 29 (“to review current contract and review issues of the new tender“) and STU on January 25, for the same matter (“meeting to review current contract and review issues of the new tender“). There is no record of the meeting with the third company, Metropol.

I RECOMMEND ANDRÉS GOMBEROFF’S NEWSLETTER

We invite you to enter a Parallel universethe new newsletter from The Mostrador, where physicist Andrés Gomberoff will take you on a fascinating journey through the world of science.

Gomberoff has a privileged pen to explain the secrets and wonders of the science that surrounds us. He is the author of five internationally recognized books on the subject and a regular scientific communicator on television programs, the written press and social networks at a national and international level.
Do you want to know the latest news on artificial intelligence, astrophysics and other scientific topics without dying of boredom?Sign up now and receive in your inbox, every Wednesday at noon, Parallel universe.

And up to here our +Politics of this hectic week. If you have any comments, questions or information that you want to share, you can write to me at jmontalva@elmostrador.cl.