Deputy Felipe Camaño, vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, filed a lawsuit for libel and slander against Franco Parisi and Javier Olivares of the PDG. The action follows criticism over his vote for Jorge Alessandri in last week's Chamber presidency election. Camaño describes his choice as honoring an administrative agreement.
Felipe Camaño, independent deputy for Ñuble elected on a DC slot and now vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, announced on Wednesday a lawsuit for libel and slander against former presidential candidate Franco Parisi (PDG) and deputy Javier Olivares (PDG). The action stems from comments made after last week's Chamber board election, in which Camaño and Jaime Mulet (FRVS) voted for Jorge Alessandri (UDI) instead of the opposition's candidate, Pamela Jiles (PDG). This support earned Camaño the vice presidency and Mulet the chairmanship of the Constitution Committee. In an interview with Radio Universo, Camaño clarified he was not expelled from the DC bench and that his party had mandated him to negotiate with the right. 'With signed papers, Democracia Cristiana mandated me to negotiate with the right,' he explained, criticizing former bench chief Héctor Barría's parallel talks with the left. 'We were mandated to negotiate and improve the deal, which we achieved greatly,' he added, stressing it was an administrative, not political, agreement. On the accusations, he said Olivares called him a 'thief' and 'sellout hick' in media, while Parisi claimed his vote was traded for a BancoEstado job for his mother, a career employee for over 33 years. 'That's completely false,' Camaño rejected. 'We must protect institutions and not tolerate people making a media show,' he stated. The lawsuit against Parisi is already admissible, awaiting Olivares' immunity lift.
