Political Espionage in Communes of Santiago de Chile
By Andres Kogan Valderrama
HAVANA TIMES – It might seem like a question from the times of the dictatorship in Chile, when municipalities played a collaborative role with Augusto Pinochet’s criminal regime to identify political opponents, but in the midst of democracy, we have learned that it appears to be a practice that continues in some districts of the country.
I mention this based on statements from the councilman of the Lo Barnechea commune, Francisco Madrid, who denounced that the Association of Municipalities for Citizen Security of the Eastern Zone (AMSZO) has compiled files with personal data of social leaders who are seen as “subjects of interest,” which falls within the scope of espionage work by this organization.
Therefore, it is a very serious allegation by councilman Madrid, involving three municipalities in the country: Las Condes, Lo Barnechea, and Vitacura, which have financed and supported an institution like The Association of Municipalities for Citizen Security of the Eastern Zone (AMSZO), involved in this very serious action and others related to a lack of probity and transparency.
This was also reported by the investigative media CIPER in 2021, where Las Condes, Lo Barnechea, and Vitacura transferred 30 billion pesos (around $41 million USD om 2021) to AMSZO, without any oversight or control from an organization like the Comptroller’s Office, which only creates conditions conducive to corruption and actions that go against the law, such as this potential espionage.
In the specific case of Las Condes, where I am a resident, it deeply concerns me that new allegations continue to emerge, not only denigrating municipal work but also putting at risk the integrity of those of us who oppose a corrupt municipal administration that also takes security attributions that do not correspond to it as a decentralized state body.
In all of this, the only authority from Las Condes who has come out to denounce this latest espionage case has been the councilwoman from the Broad Front, Isidora Alcalde, while the rest of the municipal council and the mayor, Daniela Peñaloza, have preferred a comfortable and complicit silence about what has been uncovered, which should alert us.
Lastly, the traditional right-wing and far-right mayoral candidate, Marcela Cubillos, has also chosen to remain silent, which was expected, coming from a rather fanatical and Pinochetist person, who surely agrees with espionage actions against opponents of this type, reminiscent of the dark times of a Chile that some still seem to long for.
Thus, candidate Cubillos may have recently launched a series of proposals for the Municipality of Las Condes, regarding efficiency, probity, and transparency, which one might agree with, but they will only be empty promises if she is not able to address concrete cases like this and many others in the commune, after 30 years of administration by the sector she represents.
Consequently, the residents of Las Condes deserve authorities who truly commit to the district and seriously perform the work they are mandated, taking responsibility for the role entrusted to them and leaving behind practices that only favor closed party elites, even violating basic rights, as happens with this espionage allegation.