Boric’s trusted official is accused of raping a subordinate

That it can always be worse seems to apply here: the self-proclaimed feminist government of Chilean President Gabriel Boric is going through its worst moment after an official judicially denounced having been sexually abused and raped by her hierarchical superior, the now former Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, personero who was in charge of public security, a priority of citizens.

The case entangled Boric personally, because he received a version of the events directly from Monsalve on Tuesday of last week, but instead of immediately dismissing him, he kept him in office for two more days until the situation was leaked to the public on Thursday. the press, at which time the now former official resigned.

The situation, which surpasses other terrible moments of the administration, causes shock: the figure at the forefront of the fight against crime, the most valued person in the government by public opinion, appears involved in a major crime and, in the process, made another shovel of land to the credibility of the institutions -Parliament, Judiciary, political parties, etc.-, seriously weakened.

Just days before municipal elections that on Sunday will redefine the correlation of political forces, the right-wing opposition is having a feast, tying the situation with cases of corruption and/or scandals that harm it. With one year left, municipal elections are the prelude to the legislative and presidential elections of 2025, usually anticipating results.

Boric became complicated because, aware of the eventual crime committed by his subordinate, he avoided bringing it to the attention of the Public Ministry, as the law mandates for any citizen.

Trying to explain himself, contrary to any basic manual of political communication, the president chose to give explanations during a field visit last Friday, accepting more than 30 questions from the press for 57 minutes, many of which he said he had no answer. , despite the fact that the director of his communications team asked him to stop doing so, to which Boric refused, publicly contradicting her.

Far from resolving doubts and limiting damage, the erratic appearance deepened them because there is speculation whether the president tried to protect Monsalve, in addition to the fact that he became personally involved and dragged the case to his office, giving details unrelated to his inauguration.

Between giving his version to Boric on Tuesday the 15th and resigning, the accused had a police plane to travel to the Biobío Region, where he is from, it is said that to inform his family and, on the morning of Thursday the 17th assist, when the case was uncovered, a legislative commission that discussed the 2025 budget of the agency still under his charge.

The events occurred on September 22 in a hotel in the capital where Monsalve used to stay and the complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office was made on October 14. According to what is known, under the pretext of a work meeting, he had dinner that night with the 32-year-old victim at a nearby restaurant and then, under the influence of alcohol, he took her in a taxi to the Panamericano Hotel, in the heart of downtown. Santiago, after dismissing his escort to be alone with the woman.

It was also confirmed that days later, he ordered the police to remove the records from the hotel’s security cameras, recordings whose fate is unknown.

Monsalve, who has not yet been formalized, hired as a defense attorney María Inés Horvitz, until recently a member of the State Defense Council, who yesterday stated that “he is confident in his innocence.”

A member of the Socialist Party – which was suspended the day before yesterday -, a doctor by profession, married, with two daughters, it was speculated that in November he would leave the government to compete for a senatorship in 2025.