Beyond the case of Daniel Jadue, which is still being investigated to determine whether or not there was embezzlement, corruption, by whom and towards whom, or whether there was correct and good-faith management, we remember who profited from the pandemic, worldwide: pharmaceutical companies and medical supplies suppliers. But none of them was investigated, nor did any representative have to face any trial while elderly people in Italy died waiting for Pfizer (American) and Sinovac (China) to compete to exclusively enter the vaccine market throughout Europe. On the other hand, a mayor who has favored the entry of the first vaccines and who has acted in favor of the health of citizens is being tried and considered a public danger.
Santiago, August 14, 2017 The Mayor of Recoleta, Daniel Jadue, attended the inauguration of the High-Resolution Primary Care Emergency Service (SAR) Doctor Juan Carlos Concha, which with an investment of more than 1.2 billion pesos will benefit 90,366 thousand people from Recoleta. Christian Iglesias/Aton Chile
Cristina Bianchi. “Press Agency”. Santiago. 8/2024Today marks sixty days of preventive detention for the former mayor of Recoleta, Daniel Jadue, who is considered by the Judiciary to be a “public danger” due to the Popular Pharmacies initiative, which managed to distribute medicines to the population at low prices.
Still awaiting trial and after having made all his accounts transparent and having handed over his computers, after three years of investigation it was decided to prevent the then mayor from leaving the country (when in all this time he had left and re-entered, fulfilling his duties as mayor and citizen) and sixty days ago a preventive prison measure was declared for Daniel Jadue.
We had already published about the success story of the popular (not populist) measures of Daniel Jadue, mayor of the Communist Party in Recoleta, who has managed to impact a difficult territory due to poverty, lack of essential services and multiculturalism.
Among the many measures that have contributed to considerably improving the lives of Recoleta’s citizens are: the Popular Optics Center, the Popular Housing Center, the Open University, the Popular Bookstore, the Popular Funeral Home (recently opened) and the Popular Pharmacy, the latter initiative being under scrutiny due to issues of negotiations with suppliers during the pandemic. All of these initiatives are part of the mayor’s vision of the territory as a space where well-being and the proximity of public services to citizens can be guaranteed, as a fundamental right. Today, for example, there are public health centers no more than 8 blocks from any house in the commune.
Beyond the case, which is still being investigated to determine whether or not there was embezzlement, corruption, by whom and towards whom, or whether instead there was proper management and in good faith, we remember who profited from the pandemic, worldwide: pharmaceutical companies and medical supplies suppliers. But none of them was investigated, nor did any representative have to face any trial while elderly people in Italy died waiting for Pfizer (American) and Sinovac (China) to compete to enter the vaccine market exclusively throughout Europe. On the other hand, a mayor who has favored the entry of the first vaccines and who has acted in favor of the health of citizens is being tried and considered a public danger.
Today, those who do things according to criteria that do not belong to the market and to the powers that be must defend their innocence, instead of enjoying the presumption of innocence like any other citizen.
On August 3, 2024, it was 60 days since former mayor Daniel Jadue was imprisoned. He was prevented from completing his term due to his absence from office, due to the preventive detention he is facing. Margarita Mondaca, a member of the Collective in defense of all popular services in the Commune of Recoleta, tells us how much the services activated by Daniel Jadue and his team continue to benefit citizens: “My granddaughter has to take a medicine for life and it would cost her 45,000 pesos each time, while at the popular pharmacy they cost it at 18,000 pesos. The same pain remedy that I had to use when I broke my foot was 50,000 pesos and at the popular pharmacy it was 12,000 pesos. The differences are enormous. Glasses… optical lenses at less than $20,000 pesos! He has done an excellent job as mayor during his 12 years in office and we will continue to support him as a community.”
Why do you think he is being prosecuted unfairly?
“It is a political system that is persecuting Daniel Jadue: all sectors of the elite do not want us to have cheap, popular benefits; they want to tie us only to their chains. We as a collective are defending these popular services and we will continue to do so.”
At the demonstration in support of Daniel Jadue sixty days after his imprisonment, we spoke with Cesar Abuaid Charad, host of the program “Palestine Forever,” “Escaparate” for Radio Universidad de Chile, and the program “Sin maquillaje” that interviewed Daniel Jadue every week on topics of relevance to society.
What impact do you think “Sin maquillaje” has on the case of Daniel Jadue?
“I am not a communist militant or anything like that. I try to talk to Jadue freely and ask questions based on what happens in the street. What I see is that people have accepted this neoliberal society and if they could choose to live with 2,000,000 pesos in this same society, for many of them it would not be a problem.”
Does your programme reveal people’s priorities and how they think?
“Based on what I see on the street, I ask Daniel questions so that he can reflect on, for example, why we are living in such a selfish society, why we don’t want to change it?”
More than sixty people attended the demonstration in front of the Capitán Yaber prison in Santiago de Chile, to express their solidarity with the mayor and demand his release. Many other demonstrations took place in different parts of the world, including official declarations of solidarity from the heads of state Gustavo Petro and Lula Da Silva, as well as personalities from the world of music such as Roger Waters.
I would like to conclude this article, which follows the unjust political persecution to which the former communist mayor Daniel Jadue is subjected, with an inspiring quote from José Balmes (National Art Award in 1999) contained in the 2012 documentary feature film: “A Century for Chile”, by Cari Donoso: “This is where one risks one’s life, because if one doesn’t risk it on this, what is one going to risk it on?”
