Minister Ampuero regrets "distortion of historical reality expressed by the French Chancellery"

Today the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, met with Senator Juan Antonio Coloma and Representative Issa Kort from UDI at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The aim of the meeting was to jointly address the decision of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) to grant asylum to Ricardo Palma Salamanca, sentenced to life imprisonment in Chile for the assassination of UDI Senator Jaime Guzmán.

At the end of the meeting, the Chancellor declared: "I want to say that for us, as Chancellery, this is a matter of State". Along with this, the Minister added: "We Chileans are very proud of what we have managed to build from the restoration of democracy in Chile. We are fully aware of the value of what this represents and that our country's prestige is founded on an international level to a great extent precisely because it is an exemplary democracy".

In this line, the Minister also referred to the press statement made by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs last November 6 which stated that "the case of Ricardo Palma Salamanca refers to the history of Chile under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet". In this regard, Chancellor Ampuero today clarified that it was important to remember, in the face of the inaccuracy expressed by the French Chancellery, that "the crime of Senator Guzmán took place in a democracy, that the investigation that was carried out took place in a democracy, that the trial, the sentence and also the escape of Mr. Palma Salamanca took place in a democracy".

Thus, the Minister added that the "distortion of the historical reality expressed by the French Chancellery" is regretable.

At the end of his statement, the Chancellor stressed that "our country will continue to demand the extradition of Palma Salamanca," adding: "We are convinced that this is the right thing to do. It is a person who is convicted in Chile and fled the country and is also convicted of crimes of a terrorist nature".