Less than a month ago, Pablo Zalaquett returned from his political retirement forced by the Penta case. The former mayor of La Florida and Santiago launched his pre-headquarters as Vitacura’s edil, has a website and a government program with which he intends to convince the neighbors to replace Raúl Torrealba, who will leave the post after 24 years of management.
However, first he has to win the primary election of November 29, against Max del Real (RN), and Camila Merino (Evopoli) and for that, he has already launched his territorial machinery with periodic activities in the commune and also the fundraiser for his campaign, a task for which he formed a team led no less than by Carmen Gloria de Castro.
Basic teacher of the Instituto Educares, “Coca” de Castro has been chief of staff in the mayors that Zalaquett has occupied and it was because of that link that over time, she also became a close adviser to Pablo Longueira. With both she worked as a fundraiser for their respective senatorial campaigns and formed the Chile Justo and Web foundations, through which Longueira received monthly payments from SQM and was part of the directories.
De Castro and Zalaquett faced justice for irregular campaign funding in the Penta case. The “Coca” for providing fake ballots. In August 2019, the prosecution accepted the conditional suspension of the proceedings, with payment of $40 million from the former edil and $550,000 for Castro. “Everything was investigated and there was nothing. With my forehead up here I am. “Justice showed that there was no wrongdoing,” Zalaquett said on October 30 when he launched his campaign for mayor.
Last year, a few months before the close of her case, “Coca” de Castro – stepdaughter of Pinochet’s former minister Sergio De Castro – was with mountaineer María Paz Ibarra, the first woman to climb Everest through the China sector and not Nepal which is a regular alternative. From mountaineering he has built a good network of contacts with entrepreneurs such as Ignacio Cueto, Paola Luksic or Hernán Abumohor, which probably serves to pick up the phone and ask for resources in Zalaquett’s name.
