translated from Spanish: Erazo defends criminal investigation for Covid deaths and claims that “whoever falls” must be made “fall”

Former Minister of Health and member of the Covid Advisory Committee of La Moneda, Alvaro Erazo, strongly defended the investigations initiated in Congress and Courts for the management of the pandemic: “I have not seen the detail of the accusation and what has to happen is that all the background is delivered, that it comes out of the dimes and diretes that it is a political strategy because here all sectors , I remember as Minister of Health for the earthquake, we were ending the government, the onslaught of the opposition, at that time on the right, was brutal, in the ratings, challenges and they were in their legitimate right as an opposition through their parliamentarians.”
“There was also an investigation, in this case there is also a prosecution investigation, therefore, in what is being the investigation of the courts carried out by the MP and which will settle the Supreme Court – depending on the death toll where there is controversy and have gone to declare officials of the ministry itself – here the fundamental thing is public faith. That means that institutionality in health matters is called the Ministry of Health and that is above any contingency, of managerial positions, of ministers, of authorities because the institutions remain,” Erazo argued in Radio Universe. “On the day that the credibility of the Minsal is affected, what it recommends, of its programs, etc., unfortunately it will lose the country and that must be taken care of and therefore investigate to the last to clarify this whole situation, whoever falls, this investigation must be thorough and exhaustive, what has to be known is the concrete truth of what happened.”
“Clearly there are elements for them to be presented, investigated and clarified,” he said.
“In terms of constitutional indictment I do not know the details, it is an attribution of the parliamentarians, they have argued – what I have seen in the press – that the truth has been lacking in the timely and adequate information regarding the records of the cases of the deceased, the same goes for the investigation that the MP is carrying and that it is ditching the Supreme Court , that’s one aspect. The other aspect is what it says relates to having acted on time in the health response,” he added.
“As a former minister I have made it very clear, it is not now a question of arguing but we argued in due course,” Erazo stressed, noting that, in the case of the record of the deaths, he had asked minsal to improve what the Deis was doing.
“You have to act proactively but when there are problems, you don’t have to hide your head and if there’s evidence that there are problems and that they’re serious, until the last consequences, you don’t have to relativize that. Because this game is political, that this is not political, here is an institutionality called Minsal, which is at stake its credibility. We don’t have two ministries, we have only one ministry of health.”
“I understand that the courts have always acted legally. How is it possible for a court to be told that political action is being acted on, since when? Why is a court, when it starts investigating, told that it has political interests, how is it possible?” he stressed, pointing to the sayings of the Mañalich and his lawyer Gabriel Zaliasnick.
“The constitutional indictment is filed, the Minsal will present his background and we’ll see what happens to that. By handing over all the arguments, this issue is going to conclude in a good way,” he added. “We have to draw the lessons, one would not want to get to these situations, I do not like constitutional accusations, that every month we have one, but there are situations in which unfortunately these situations are triggered, there is not enough response and we come to these situations in which one would not want to be as authority, no one likes to be in this situation” Concluded.
Interregional permits
“I know the title that you are going to proceed in this way to allow access to second homes or to visit family, all I know is what has come out in the press, I no longer know if they are going to consult us, we were not consulted. I read in the news that one of the arguments was that since the controls had failed at Fiestas Patrias, it was that controls had to be liberalized, that seems to me to be a ugly argument from every point of view, what do you want me to tell you? I hope that’s not an argument, at least health argument isn’t. I can’t imagine anyone from the Ministry of Health arguing that way,” he said of the permits announced Monday to travel between communes from Phase 3 onwards.
About the diferamong the versions handed over by the ministers of Health and Economy on the subject, Erazo noted that: “This controversy between Health and Economics is a false dichotomy because what must be prevailed is the health of people. There is no doubt and the sentimental reasons for attachment, we are human beings, the point is that with the argument of normality we have already had several failures. Beyond the affective reasons I would like to hear technical and health reasons that will enable these transfers. I would like to know technically the opinion of the Ministry of Health, some certainty they will have, that this cannot affect an increase in the circulation of the virus.”

Original source in Spanish