SANTIAGO – As new details emerged on the Catrillanca case, opposition in Chile has united this morning to demand the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Andrés Chadwick. On Monday, it was revealed that Chadwick on the day of the killing of Catrillanca was informed about the confrontation – and the fact that the Mapuche was unarmed. Various parliamentarians and political parties have asked President Piñera to remove Chadwick.
Today, the Socialist Party (PS), the Party for Democracy (PPD) and the Radical Party (PR) requested the resignation of the minister in separate statements.
Parliamentarians of the political left-wing front Frente Amplio (FA), among them, former presidential candidate Beatriz Sánchez, united at La Moneda palace to call for Chadwick to step down “for the simple fact that we don’t believe him anymore”.
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Chadwicks´s phone call with general Mauro Victtoriano
The entire polemic started after statements by Mauro Victtoriano, head of Public Order in Araucanía region, were released. Victtoriano was the first high command officer who arrived at the scene where Camilo Catrillanca was killed, and the first to inform minister Chadwick on that same day.
According to Victtoriano, he informed minister Chadwick while still being at the scene about that fact that there was no armed confrontation, as both Catrillanca and the 15-year-old boy accompanying him were unarmed.
Minister Chadwick affirmed later in a statement at the Prosecutor’s Office the conversation took place. According to the minister, communication was difficult as the line was cut various times and there was a lot of background noise.
As Chadwick never mentioned the conversation during his interpellation with Mapuche deputy Nuyado, and in the aftermath of the shooting continued to question a criminal background of Catrillanca, opposition makers now demand his resignation.
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“The minister has become an obstacle”
In separate statements, given by different political parties, the message was: Chadwick should resign. Beatriz Sánchez, said that “The statements as given by the interior minister show that he has lied, and that he can´t further exercise his function. We are asking the President of the Republic to remove Andrés Chadwick from his position”.
The president of Democratic Revolution (RD), Rodrigo Echecopar, said that “the interior minister has become an obstacle in finding out the truth. We hope that both the government and the President of the Republic will ask him to resign so that we can move towards a dialogue that leads us to a solution of the conflict in La Araucanía”.
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Editor-In-Chief Boris van der Spek is the founder of Chile Today.