He Ministery of security released a statement in which he assured that the head of the portfolio, Patricia Bullrichcontacted the Minister of the Interior and Public Security of Chile, Carolina Tohá, to apologize for having stated that there was the presence of the terrorist group Hezbollah in Iquique, in the north of the neighboring country. However, shortly after uploading the text to their social networks, they deleted it without detailing the reasons.
The statement issued by Security reported that Bullrich had had a “telephone conversation” with his Chilean counterpart “with the purpose of convey apologies regarding his recent statements regarding the presence of Hezbollah in Iquique”.
According to them, the Minister had made these statements “in the context of an analysis of the regional situation, within the framework of the responsibilities inherent to her position, and not with the intention of generating fear or alarm in Chile“, he pointed.
Finally, the deleted text sought to highlight the good bond between both countries: “We reaffirm our commitment to strengthening relations and security cooperation with our sister nation. To this end, Minister Bullrich will maintain next week, in that countrya meeting with his Security counterpart, Minister Tohá“.
Gabriel Boric accepted Patricia Bullrich’s apology
Although the statement was deleted, the president of Chile, Gabriel Boricaccepted Minister Bullrich’s apology and expressed on her social networks: “Apologies accepted and we consider the matter over.”
In any case, he clarified: “If an authority from another country has a history of illegal activities in ours, what is appropriate is to raise it diplomatically, not by the press. My duty as President of the Republic is to defend the name and institutional seriousness of Chile in all instances.“said the president on his Twitter account.
“To combat transnational organized crime we need permanent collaboration between States, which is precisely what we promote from Chile,” he stressed.
From Chile they criticized Patricia Bullrich and denied the presence of Hezbollah in the country
The government of Chile issued a protest note this morning, criticizing Bullrich’s claims. President Gabriel Boric had already announced, in an interview with a local radio station, that if the minister “has serious antecedents, she should hand them over to the appropriate authorities.”
The Chilean Foreign Ministry said that the note, whose content is not public, was delivered to Javier Lareohead of the Chancellery of the Argentine Embassy in Chile, the second of the diplomatic delegation.
“You I demand from the Argentine security minister If you have a record, you should hand it over and collaborate. It seems to me that it is tremendously important that the authorities are responsible in their statements“Boric said.
“Chile does not protect any terrorist groupneither in its territory nor outside of it,” he stated.
Source: Ambito
