Minister of Justice and Boric’s chief of staff resign after pardon crisis

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The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, accepted this Saturday (7) the resignation of the Minister of Justice, Marcela Ríos, amid a crisis in the government triggered by 13 pardons granted by the leftist at the end of 2022.

“I recognize that the execution of my decision to grant the pardons was not done in the best way”, said Boric, citing the need to strengthen the political management of the portfolio, which also takes care of the human rights area. “When situations like this happen in politics, we must take responsibility.”

The president appointed attorney Luis Cordero Vega to the ministry. The case also led to the resignation of Boric’s chief of staff, Matías Meza-Lopehandía, according to the Chilean press.

Ríos’ departure took place hours after two opposition parties, the National Renovation and the Independent Democratic Union, announced that they would present, on Monday (9), a constitutional complaint against the now ex-minister —measures like this could become political trials debated in Congress, where the government does not have a majority.

The complaint would be motivated by the granting of 13 presidential pardons edited on December 30 of last year, for the benefit of 12 convicted of involvement in the major protests of 2019, which became known as “social explosion”, and a former member of the armed group FPMR, convicted of a bank robbery in 2013.

Since his Boric campaign, he has promised to grant this kind of pardon to people linked to the acts of 2019 – which were ended with agreements led, among other forces, by the current president’s political group. The demonstrations at the time left around 30 dead and 400 injured, many with eye trauma, amid police repression — thousands of agents were also injured.

Pardons, as in Brazil an attribution of the president, have already generated controversy on other occasions in Chile. Boric’s predecessor, for example, Sebastián Piñera, granted the benefit to those convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Ríos was also the target of criticism for appointments in the Attorney General’s Office – two of the nominees were barred from Parliament;

The minister’s resignation leads to the third change in Boric’s office in nine months of management. After the rejection of the Constitution proposal, he promoted a mini-reform in which he gave more space to the center and to experienced names.

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