D’accord. Especially since even proven sexual abuse in the country is not so much a real crime but something of a lurid pastime, filling the swampy space between characteristically bad entertainment and equally abysmal and wholly forgettable Business as Usual.
But the Boric attempt at governance has supplied one true benefit to society, and that is to shatter the baseless perception that Chile is a low-corruption state. People – at least some inside the country – are finally beginning to understand that Chile is just another inherently and massively corrupt Latin American backwater. It’s said that recognizing that you have a problem is the first step in actually solving it. Assuming that there is the will to solve it. More likely we will see the continuing desire to just live with it.
Corruption has increased in Chile for the last 24 years, It´s a reallity and the same has been for many other countries, including USA, Europe and Asia. Anyway is hard to measure the real corruption or establish credible indexes because is it episocic, not a continium.
Good point. And that increase is greater than the effect of the addition of population. There is also is a curious correlation between certain types of corruption and the notion that such conduct is a morally acceptable form of “striking back” at the former military government. You know, they’re all the same… all the subsequent governments are just repackaged fascismo…
A great deal of corruption or fraud here isn’t even perceived as criminal, but rather as a sort of game. One of the better examples someone reported was a guest making a sub-rosa payment for a hotel room (no paper, no IVA) at the exact moment that the hotel owner was complaining about how corrupt the government was.
Meanwhile, on the Monsalve events: apparently some of the other inmates at the Rancagua jail didn’t care for Monsalve being there and reportedly the leader of one of the gangs offered a credible threat. So the Gendarmes in charge of the facility requested that Monsalve be transferred to another jail. That was reportedly Anexo Penitenciario Capitán Yáber in downtown Santiago, just off the Panamericana. Evidently it’s not uncommon for white-collar criminals/suspects to spend some time there. One of the luminaries to join the residents there earlier this year was Chilean Communist Party heavy and former Recoleta mayor Daniel Jadue, a Palestinian-Chilean accused of a long list of crimes, including bribery, tax evasion, and various fraud charges.
You might have noticed today’s little EMOL note on the matter, describing who all were in there-- Monsalve, Luis Hermosilla, Daniel Sauer, Ariel Sauer as previously noted, and Rodrigo Topelberg, the latter being one of several involved in the “Caso Factop” and alleged attempts to bribe Impuestos Internos officials, among other crimes. Apparently Daniel and Andres Lasen, big-time fake auto dealership scammers, are still there as well. Mostly white-collar crime types, with the exception of …Monsalve, who is getting special treatment.