Chilean ambassador to Spain apologizes for leaking controversial photos | International | News

The Chilean ambassador to Spain, Javier Velasco, has promised to be more attentive after the escape of two photos that have raised controversy in Chile. One of the photos shows the feet of the diplomat’s girl and the other shows the official lobster eating.

Velasco _militator of the Social Convergence, the party of President Gabriel Boric_, through an online session of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Chilean Senate, assured that “under no circumstances” will something similar to these publications be repeatedpointed to the portal Bio Bio Chile.

“I am very self-critical of what happened and I would like to be very emphatic about that. There was a controversy, which for me is very painful to deal with, which is the controversy this photograph my partner uploaded to his private Instagram account and that it is now closed, ”said the Chilean ambassador.

The diplomat assured that it is not the first time that his personal publications have been used to criticize his management in front of the Embassy and that as a family he and his partner are “very impressed by the treatment”.

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Velasco, on the other hand, also referred to the controversy he aroused after his criticisms of the transition period after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet; the official believes these schemes created the conditions for Social explosion 2019.

During a forum held in Madrid by the Nueva Economía Fórum organization, Velasco indicated that “an outbreak of this size is not a trivial matter. To get there, it took 30 years of policies that aggravated inequality30 years of a country that perceives it every day “.

“There was no question of personally attacking or offending those who were part of the governments at that time. It was a systemic analysis “, assured the diplomat in the session of the Senate foreign relations committee.”It was not my interest to offend and I sincerely apologize for that.. Notwithstanding this, I think it is very important not to leave aside the discussion on inequality in our country, ”she added.

According to the Chilean ambassador to Spain, the social epidemic that occurred in his country in 2019 “is something that occurs in the face of the unease that accumulates over time”.

However, he pointed out that “unquestionably”, all Chileans and especially those who come from humble families, have managed to reach spaces like the one they occupy thanks to the fact that Chile “has grown immensely over the past 30 years”.

Call for attention

Due to his statements, the representative of Chile in Spain received a wake-up call from the Boric government two weeks ago.

Government spokesperson Camila Vallejo said Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola called the ambassador “to order and prudence”. “The chancellor has already communicated with the ambassador, obviously making a call to order and prudenceespecially in the use of social networks, at the request of the President of the Republic ”, he indicated.

“This communication has already been made, the call to order has already been made and understanding what the president has already indicated, that we must be responsible when we hold public office. When we are authorities we need to know how to deal with the accusations”, Vallejo specified.

Photos and resignation requests

One of the controversial photos went viral after Vallejo’s comment on the forum. In the image in question, Velasco is seen sitting in the back of a vehicle, dressed in a suit and tie, where he is touching the feet of the person next to himapparently his girlfriend.

The woman allegedly uploaded this photo to her Instagram account @manolaperezt, although it is no longer available.

In the second photo, Velasco is shown allegedly eating lobster, though the government assured that it was a lobster, a lobster-like crustaceanthe price of which was 20 euros.

Two deputies of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), Cristián Labbé and Cristhian Moreira, called the call to order by Foreign Minister Urrejola “insufficient”, assuring that Velasco’s situation “has reached its limit”. In addition, they called her to demand the diplomat’s resignation.

For his part, the former presidential candidate, José Antonio Kast, criticized this situation on his Twitter account, stating that “This man is an ambassador only because he is a friend of President Boric. It is a pity for Chile, for the foreign service and for all those who with difficulty embrace a diplomatic career. Pictocracy at its best “. (IO)