The controversial Judge Daniel Urrutia remains in the eye of the hurricane after it was revealed that Shares a lawyer with a Colombian drug trafficker who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for drug trafficking in the High Security Prison, which was benefited by a resolution from the magistrate. This fact provoked an immediate reaction from the Government, ensuring that there is a conflict of interest in this matter.
Urrutia’s lawyer is called Carlos Quezadawho graduated in 2001 from the Andrés Bello University and has represented Urrutia in various cases.
In this regard, the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero He warned that “due to the responsibility of the position I have and since we have a pending dispute regarding the judicial resolution, what matters most to me is guaranteeing the maximum security of the establishment. Some of these permitted communications are precisely those that are sought to be avoided in maximum security.”
“I want to continue focusing, because what I think is not appropriate at this time is that this is a dispute with a judge with a first and last name,” he added, in conversation with radio Universe.
That said, he explained that “the central attribute of the jurisdictional function is judicial independence and that is what justifies that we recognize the independence and that we recognize the immovability of a judge. That is why the standards that we demand of judges for the performance of their jurisdictional level must be higher or higher than those of any other public official.”
Regarding the case of lawyer Quezada, Cordero assured that it is information “that at least puts the condition of independence at risk.” “To specifically evaluate a case of conflict of interest, I believe that it is convenient to have all the background information, but It is evident that there is a principle that could generate a conflict of interest hypothesis“he added.
“It seems inconvenient to me, due to the context in which we are and the nature of the jurisdictional function,” said Cordero, who closed by saying that it is a fact that “both Judge Urrutia and his lawyer have to clear up.”
Quezada’s Profile
Carlos Quezada has represented the controversial Judge Urrutia in several cases. One of those occurred in 2023, when the judge filed a complaint against the former deputy Mario Desbordes, that he described him as a “political activist” and that he “released criminals,” which was dismissed by the courts.
He also represented him in 2020 when Urrutia filed a complaint against a man who threatened to kill him on social networks, and last week he assumed his defense in another complaint for the same type of threats.
In his professional field, as a criminal lawyer he has been a defender in several cases of public connotation. According to press records, he has had to defend members of the Garra Blanca – among whom he represented Francisco Muñoz, alias “Pancho Malo” – who have already died in the San Miguel prison fire.
Furthermore, according to a Ciper report, he had to defend members of the Los Gaete drug trafficking gang. In this case he worked together with Reiniero García de la Pastora. Both defended Marcelo Gaete, the leader of the gang, and his wife.
“Quezada has participated in famous causes. He defended engineer Ricardo Jiménez and his partner in a trial for production and alleged trafficking of mescaline that was used for therapeutic purposes. He also the former anti-narcotics police inspector Gonzalo Araya. These days he is participating in the oral trial against Roberto Silva Cerpa, accused of being the financier of trafficking 30 kilos of cocaine from Bolivia,” the note in question states.
He also represents those accused of sexual crimes.
The case of the Colombian
According to the site From before, The beneficiary of Judge Urrutia is the Colombian Rafael Marín Vielma. The benefit? That he could receive an intimate visit from his partner Lady Nelly Martínez Moreno.
Urrutia’s resolution was issued on January 19, ordering the Gendarmerie to allow the intimate visit to Marín and giving the Gendarmerie a period of 15 days to comply with the measure. The Gendarmerie claimed that they do not have facilities for this type of meetings.
“Well, that is why the Court ordered that the intimate visit be carried out and security measures be adopted to do so in the venusterio that the Penitentiary or Santiago Uno has (…) The inmates are often taken to court, for example. The Court finds that the response that the Gendarmerie is giving is not reasonable and therefore the Court continues with the order that within the next few days starting last Friday, the intimate visit of Leydi Nelly Martínez Moreno must be carried out, provided that she want, obviously,” Urrutia said according to the transcript.
The link between Quezada and the Colombian drug trafficker is reported in a case for trafficking to Spain in 2020, where he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was also a repeat offender, since he was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the same crime, but for an event that occurred in 2016 in Antofagasta.