The Specialized Protection Service for Children and Adolescents is going through complex days. This, after El Mostrador exposed the cases of sexual exploitation and drug trafficking inside the agency’s residences to children and adolescents.
You may also be interested in:
This situation added a new chapter on Wednesday, because the resignation -of a voluntary nature- of its national director, María José Castro, as the deputy national director, Juan Ignacio Carmona, was confirmed.
“We deeply appreciate the commitment and professionalism they dedicated to the Service from day one. We wish both of them every success in their new challenges,” said the statement, which did not specify the reasons for the resignation.
In this way, the resignation of María José Castro will be effective from April 1 and in the case of Deputy Director Carmona, from April 18.
The reasons for the decision have not been informed, but everything points to the serious events that occurred inside the residences, where children and adolescents have been exposed to drug trafficking and cases of commercial sexual exploitation.
The days leading up to the resignation
A few days ago, a crude report by the Investigative Commission of the Chamber of Deputies stressed that situations of sexual abuse and exploitation against children and adolescents (NNA) under the protection of the State have been “repeated and long-standing in the system.” They also point out that this institutional weakness has been identified by networks of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (ESCNNA).
“They see in the protection centers an easy target for their action, which transforms the protection residences into spaces of risk of more serious violations, and not safe spaces of protection as they should be,” the document details.
On the networks of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, the aforementioned commission of the Chamber of Deputies found that this is not resolved with the closure of the Cread. And he pointed out that “the complaint of capture of a family residence” was what triggered the formation of the commission.
A particular case is that of the Puma Family Residence, located in Recoleta. Officials of the enclosure issued a letter – dated February 22, 2022 – to the metropolitan director of the Better Childhood Service, Bárbara Soto, in which they denounced shortcomings in protection, protection and security, both for the young people who reside in Puma and for the teams that work in that place.
Among the shortcomings of protection, it is noted that minors in this center face two situations that appear to be particularly serious: commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, and drug trafficking.
