COLUMN | The Urgent Obscures the Important

When discussing corruption, if we zoom in on the Gendarmerie, the first question that should be asked is what measures are being taken to protect its officials from organized crime that threatens to control some prisons in the country.

Political will, which many call for when discussing security. Chileans denounce a government that does not deliver results while they see more public spaces becoming dangerous areas. But how can that political will be materialized? Some might say that it requires support for the Law Enforcement Forces and the legitimate use of state power; however, when we see more cases where lack of integrity is the main issue, the materialization of that political will should start with zero tolerance for corruption.

Amid the announcement of the new prison in the Maule region, the former operational deputy director of the Gendarmerie reveals a discouraging picture: Administrative investigations with handpicked prosecutors, processes that extend until the matter prescribes, chaos in prisons due to lack of personnel, gendarmes bringing in cell phones and other items, unions protecting officials who have committed infractions instead of serving the issues at hand, among many other things. At the end of the day, we return to the same point: Corruption.

Some time ago, I referred in this same medium to the ethics of public officials, an ethics based on excellence, transparency, and love for Chile, something that has been lost over time and seems to have few representatives left in the Gendarmerie. But the problem is deeper than the situation of a single service.

How can we demand zero tolerance for corruption when a government mayor has served preventive detention for a case related to this issue, when computers have disappeared from ministries on three occasions, when a ruling party deputy and a worker from a undersecretariat, among others, are involved in the corruption scandal of the foundations case… the spokesperson at the time said that investigations must be carried out and that those who need to fall will have to do so. The problem is that this zero tolerance being discussed is not perceived in practice.

Corruption, no matter how small, deeply harms the state, breaks the Social Contract, and causes it to prioritize individual good over the common good. Corruption erodes the state, weakens its institutions, and opens the door for other actors to do as they please with it. The best example is those gendarmes who bring cell phones and even drugs into Chilean prisons. Subjugated by crime, the service has been unable to protect them, allowing loyalties to form where they should not.

When discussing corruption, if we zoom in on the Gendarmerie, the first question that should be asked is what measures are being taken to protect its officials from organized crime that threatens to control some prisons in the country.

If the government wants to regain its course, instead of seeking to reduce homicides, it should start by controlling corruption in institutions and services. It is unacceptable to lose officials like the former deputy director of operations of the Gendarmerie for failing to address what is important. Now, we can only ask ourselves if, in the remainder of the government, our leaders are willing to take on what is important.