Chile Orders the Detention of Two Ex-directors of Carabineros

In Chile, Santiago's Seventh Court of Guarantee ordered preventive detention for the ex-General Directors of Police (Carabineros) Gustavo Gonzalez and Bruno Villalobos for embezzlement of public funds and falsification of a public instrument.

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The defendants will serve their sentence in the Sucre detention center at the first stage while waiting for the Carabineros School to report to the Court on the feasibility of receiving the detainees.

Former Justice Minister Javiera Blanco was also implicated in the case for her alleged participation when she served as Carabineros' Undersecretary.  

In her case, the Court decreed a precautionary measure of monthly signature for the first 15 days of each month. 

The Court also prosecuted former official Hector Zuñiga, retired General Ivan Whipple, and Carabineros' ex-Finance director Flavio Echeverria.

The Prosecutor's Office claimed that the defendants only used 41 percent of a total budget destined for criminal investigation, drugs, and intelligence work while detailing the mechanism used to steal public funds and then distribute them to third parties.

"The civilian control of Carabineros has been null in practice, which has allowed embezzlements, plundering of fiscal resources and no more and no less than by Carabineros, which has the monopoly of weapons to protect public order.  What has happened is of the utmost gravity," lawmaker Carmen Hertz decried.