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A year ago, the general director of the Investigative Police (PDI), Héctor Espinosa, was the host of the Interpol general assembly that was held for the first time in Chile. That day, Espinosa was elected by unanimous vote as a member of the Americas.
In an interview with La Tercera, the chief of the civil police addresses the situation that the police in the region have had to face in these months of pandemic. In addition, it refers to the role that the institution will fulfill for the plebiscite and the investigations carried out by causes derived from 18-O.
What have been the main problems in the region?
The most important thing here is to talk about drug trafficking. The criminal organizations of the three countries that produce the most cocaine in the world, which are Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, never stopped producing the drug, as some experts had pointed out, who thought that as a result of the pandemic production would decrease. Criminal organizations in the region never stopped producing drugs. While countries closed their borders to control the pandemic, that was no reason for production to be canceled. It was not even a reason for this drug to continue to be exported.
What about other challenges that the pandemic brought?
Another issue that was seen in some countries in the region was the fraudulent purchase or payment of surcharges for medical supplies by authorities. Fortunately, that in Chile has not been so notorious, at least with regard to fraudulent purchases. Yes, there have been other scams from criminal organizations that bring products that are not certified or that do not meet the standards and cause terrible damage to health.
How do you evaluate the work of the PDI with regard to crimes against public health?
The PDI could not be teleworking. The operative detectives have been working, from the director to the least old. This year we have more than 17 tons of drugs seized. We have more drugs seized than the same date last year. We seized almost 70% of Chile’s drugs and this year we believe that we will exceed that figure.
Did they have to reinforce teams?
We currently have 793 infected officials and another 757 recovered. There were quite difficult moments. In the month of June, for example, we had a lot of people infected. Then there was a very important decrease in officials in Santiago and we had to bring anti-narcotics people from all over Chile to be able to do public order and health control services, especially at night. And we managed to get ahead with that control and supervision. For example, we have 308 thousand controls and we have detected 3,588 people with Covid-19. That is why I want to take advantage of giving a very special recognition to all the detectives in Chile who have removed the dirt while working.
Now that the plebiscite is approaching, what role will the PDI have?
We will fulfill a public order role. In addition, from the last election we have another role, which is the vote abroad. We have to deploy to more than 50 destinations around the world with our staff. Added to that are the aggregates we have in 15 countries. They are in the electoral act, they comply with protecting the security of the consulates and, in addition, they move the suitcase with the votes the next day first thing in the morning.
Much has been said about people with Covid-19 who attend to vote. The national prosecutor has already said that they will be persecuted. What is the criteria for PDI?
I want to be very clear. We will comply with the law. If the law or health instruction says that they cannot pay, it is most likely that the person who arrives will have to be controlled.
Are you preparing for the anniversary of October 18 in the face of the threat of new demonstrations?
For us, October 18 was a very sad day. What hurts me the most is that there was no categorical condemnation of violence and that worries me about my country. People have the right to express themselves, to disagree, and to make their views known. But they do not have the right for all the people to take to the streets to commit heinous crimes, fires, destruction, assaults, robberies, looting, because no police in the world is prepared for everyone to go out and rob. We have fulfilled our duty, we continue working and I can assure you that we are going to reach the last consequences with the investigations that we carry out. Sometimes we delay, but we don’t have a deadline, getting to the truth has no deadline. It would be terrible if a date like October 18 began to be celebrated. If we do that we are going to start destroying our country. It is necessary that the necessary changes be discussed and only dialogue can lead to our country being what we have all dreamed of.
How do you evaluate the results obtained by the causes derived from 18-O?
These are highly complex crimes, difficult to investigate. When it comes, for example, to human rights violations, in some way it is about lowering the profile or trying to hide some information. We have a history that supports us in the field of human rights, for many years. We are for the truth, we are going to get to the truth in all cases, in the company of the prosecution, because the country needs to know what happened. And in that we are never going to get lost. The PDI does not rest. Sometimes we have taken three or four years to unravel crimes.
