The case of General Director Ricardo Yáñez

El Líbero, March 20, 2024

We must protect the national defense institutions and those dedicated to public security. We need them at their maximum capacity, and we cannot allow the government to mistreat, neglect, and denigrate them.

I am writing this column at noon on Tuesday, March 19, and to my knowledge, despite the Minister of Justice and much of the ruling party, the general Ricardo Yáñez has not yet resigned from the general direction of Carabineros. I will try to be as fair as possible in this column regarding both the general director and the impacts and consequences this situation generates for national security, particularly concerning the issues that the police address.

It is clear that the cases of Yáñez and Muñoz are completely different. All available evidence indicates that Sergio Muñoz acted incorrectly and does not deserve to be in charge of the PDI; in contrast, Ricardo Yáñez is being held accountable for his command responsibility during the so-called social outbreak. He is being held responsible for the actions of Carabineros, who, according to the accusers, allegedly violated the human rights of those protesting against the government of Sebastián Piñera.

Ricardo Yáñez was the national director of Order and Security of Carabineros in October 2019. In a company, this would be equivalent to the Operations Manager. The Public Ministry wants to charge him with illegal coercion resulting in serious injuries and homicide ‘by omission.’ They also want to charge his superior, General Rozas, who, like Yáñez, was dealing with the chaos we faced at the end of October 2019. Carabineros was our first line of defense, and together with the Armed Forces, they prevented a leftist coup in which the Communist Party played a principal role in the popular agitation.

Leaving General Yáñez alone is as serious as forgetting those who are imprisoned in Punta Peuco and other facilities for human rights violations. Unfortunately, the Piñera government was lukewarm on these matters, and like Pontius Pilate, they washed their hands and left those trying to restore order and defend La Moneda to fend for themselves. They prioritized saving themselves and throwing those in green to the lions.

Carabineros did not act in bad faith, as some members of the Public Ministry, the far-left, and the current government want to demonstrate. They did the best they could with the human and material resources available to them. They acted with the training and doctrine developed over the years. They did so without intelligence and information. It is thanks to Carabineros, the PDI, and the Armed Forces that we are where we are, and that is something the Communist Party and those who instigated the social outbreak cannot forgive.

It is obvious and not very difficult to understand that removing the general director in the current public security situation does not help. It could be classified as foolishness or a major imprudence, and in that sense, it is hard to understand the behavior of the Minister of Justice, who publicly recommends on television that the general director resign. This action suggests that Cordero is more of the government’s lawyer than the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, who, moreover, should perhaps be more concerned about the situation in Gendarmería and the prisons, which are sources of many of the ills we currently face.

If the President of the Republic wants to dismiss General Yáñez, it is sufficient for him to do so with a substantiated decree sent to Congress, which is the method the Constitution requires for removing commanders in chief and police chiefs. The problem is that the government does not have valid legal reasons to include in a decree that must be substantiated, which is why they insist through the media that it should be the general who steps aside. They have no logical reasons to remove him, and it amounts to nothing more than a vendetta from the far-left and the Communist Party, who are even willing to play with public security in their desire for revenge, something they recently did with the director of Senapred, who made the mistake of pointing out the incompetence of the FA mayors of Viña del Mar and Quilpué, and assumed the blame for the fires in the Fifth Region as the Executive requested, in order to absolve the responsibilities of the parties in their coalition, while on the other hand, they present all kinds of reasons to keep the Budget Director in her position despite being implicated in the agreements case, which is a demonstration of the double standards they operate with.

Only in Chile do the worst-rated institutions undermine the best in class. Just look at the latest public plaza survey from Cadem that calls for the intervention of the Armed Forces in public security tasks, or the version that evaluates institutional prestige, a survey in which Carabineros and the PDI rank among the top positions.

To conclude, and very seriously, we must protect the national defense institutions and those dedicated to public security. We need them at their maximum capacity, and we cannot allow the government to mistreat, neglect, and denigrate them.. General Yáñez does not deserve what he is receiving, but more importantly, neither do Carabineros de Chile and the Chileans.

If Muñoz is guilty of any crime or wrongdoing, let the maximum rigor of the law apply, and for whoever replaces him, may they maintain the PDI in the distinguished position it occupies, and in the case of Yáñez, hold on, General, and if you fall, surely there will be a Carabineros general who will know how to fulfill his duty.

Countries fall when their institutions are corrupted or weak, and today, the only ones that remain strong are the firefighters, the Armed Forces, and the police. Those who wish to undermine them know this, but it is also something we must protect, both those currently in service, those who have served, and the good-hearted Chileans.

Richard Kouyoumdjian
Vice President of AthenaLab

Source: El Líbero