Mery Cortez, mother of Romario Veloz, testified before the Senate's Human Rights, Nationality and Citizenship Commission against proposed presidential pardons that would benefit Captain José Santiago Faúndez, convicted for her son's 2019 death. Cortez described the revived trauma from these proposals and questioned President José Antonio Kast on forgiveness for victims. Subsecretary Pablo Mira and Justice Minister Fernando Rabat attended part of Tuesday's session.
The Senate's Human Rights, Nationality and Citizenship Commission met on Tuesday to hear from representatives of organizations on presidential pardons and releases of those convicted for human rights violations during the 2019 social unrest.
Mery Cortez spoke remotely, addressing the case of her son Romario Veloz, 26, fatally shot by Army personnel during a protest in La Serena on October 20, 2019. "When talk of pardons arises, the trauma is revived and it feels like our loved ones' lives are being devalued again," she stated.
Captain José Santiago Faúndez Sepúlveda, sentenced to 15 years in prison for unnecessary violence resulting in death and serious injuries—a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court—would top the pardon list proposed by President José Antonio Kast. Cortez said: "It burns my soul to know that one of the first on the possible pardon list is my son's killer." Also convicted were soldier Carlos Javier Robledo Olguín to 10 years and Corporal José Andrés Arenas Macilla to five years.
Cortez criticized Kast for treating pardons "as if it were just another procedure" and asked: "Who asked forgiveness from the victims? Who asked forgiveness from the mothers who had to bury their children?" A pardon, she added, "not only frees the guilty but condemns the victims to oblivion again."
