The previous French ambassador has been at his residence in Santiago for greater than a yr Jose Miguel Capdevilawith none particular activity or new vacation spot being assigned to them by the Ministry of Exterior Affairs.
Though he continued to obtain a month-to-month wage of roughly 300 and ninety thousand pesos, International Ministry officers selected Capdevila – whose whole is 43-year skilled profession within the International Service– didn’t return to the José Miguel Carrera Constructing, headquarters of Chilean diplomacy, and stayed at residence doing nothing. They merely left him “frozen” with out giving him a return date, all this after a abstract in opposition to him for labor abuses that lasted greater than 15 months.
The unprecedented state of affairs affecting Ambassador Capdevila stands in distinction to different diplomats who’ve remained of their posts or been given different missions regardless of being sued for incidents of an analogous nature.
Amongst Chilean overseas service personnel, the ambassador’s case remains to be recent of their minds. Camilo Sanhueza Bezanillawho complained concerning the mistreatment of staff by officers of the delegation whereas serving as minister counselor of the Chilean Embassy within the Philippines in 2015. Sanhueza remained in workplace till 2018, when he returned to Santiago to take over as chief Antarctic Directorate of the Ministry of International Affairseven if the abstract in opposition to him was nonetheless open. In 2020 he was appointed ambassador to Hungary, the place he stays at present.
That is additionally completely different from the latest remedy of the ambassador. Mathias Frankewho continues to perform South Korea, however the abstract proceedings opened in opposition to him because of the criticism submitted by the Minister-Counsellor Gustavo Gonzalezwhich was ultimately transferred to India with this put up Consul in Mumbaiin order that the 2 don’t proceed to work collectively. Or the ambassador’s case Belen Sapagwho assumed the embassy in Austria in March 2021 and He was transferred to Finland in July 2022following complaints of mistreatment of staff by officers on the diplomatic mission in Vienna.
That is in distinction to the International Ministry’s observe lately relating to abstract convictions of misconduct or office harassment, during which the prosecutor in command of the investigation doesn’t request the provisional suspension of the accused. In Capdevila’s case, there was by no means a decision that suspended his features. In these circumstances, the standard factor is that the official is assigned to the Undersecretary of International Affairs and is entrusted with some particular duties pending the end result of the abstract.
The whole lot signifies that this was additionally going to be the trail that the Ministry of Exterior Affairs deliberate to comply with to deal with the complaints of poor working setting that arose on the finish of November 2022. Two of the 17 folks Who labored within the Chilean Embassy and the UNESCO Mission in France. These gave rise, in March final yr, to the opening of a abstract in opposition to Ambassador Capdevila, who was appointed to that nation in July 2022. President Gabriel Boric,
Chilean diplomats who know the matter nicely verify this 12 Might 2023 – Boric was scheduled to tour Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and France on the finish of July of that yr – Undersecretary for International Affairs Gloria de la Fuente known as Capdevila and introduced that the president had determined to maneuver him out of France. In return she provided him two embassies: Canada or Morocco. Capdevila accepted Canada. The International Ministry had deliberate to maneuver the ambassador there Raul Fernandez Daza to ship it urgently to Paris. Thus, it will be Fernández Daza, not Capdevila, who would obtain and accompany President Boric in his official actions in Gallic lands.
Capdevila managed to ship her family items from Paris to Ottawa, and even enrolled her daughter in a college within the Canadian capital. However the switch was not finalized.
The palace designed by the Ministry of International Affairs was a convincing failure and put Chilean diplomacy in an embarrassing place in comparison with its French and Canadian counterparts. For the French, it was a minimum of inappropriate that Chile unexpectedly eliminated the pinnacle of the diplomatic mission solely 11 months after presenting his id card to the President Emmanuel Macron,
For the Canadians, the barter proved unacceptable. For the primary time within the historical past of bilateral relations, Canada rejected the title proposed by “a pleasant nation”, demanding that the Chilean International Ministry ship extra details about the abstract affecting Capdevila.
Instantly after the primary days of June final yr Presidente Boric and CAnchor Van Klaveren will signal the Decree No. 101 After Capdevila’s departure from Paris was sealed, the diplomat despatched a message to Undersecretary Gloria de la Fuente’s chief of workers, Victor Abujathamasking what was identified about Canada, since there have been rumors that there was noise about his appointment. “Hold calm,” he informed Santiago.
The damaged pots of that soiled diplomat are nonetheless being paid for by Capdevila, who, in line with Chilean diplomats who know the story, led a diplomatic profession that started in 1981 and ended within the worst of ostracisms.
Over the course of his lengthy profession, Capdevila has labored Chile Embassy in VenezuelaBetween 1992 and 1996 he was Cost d’Affaires of Chile. Chilean Union in Serbia MontenegroLater he was an alternate consultant Ginebra Consul Basic earlier than Worldwide Organizations for the Convention on Disarmament mar del plata From 2000 to 2005, political adviser on the Chilean Embassy Argentina As of 2010, counselor on the Chilean embassy Peru From 2011 to 2016, amid litigation with Lima over maritime boundaries, he then took cost of the Chilean embassy Philippinesafter whom he was named Director for South America on the Ministry of International Affairs,
On this final place, throughout the second authorities of Sebastián Piñera, Capdevila was appointed as the primary Excessive Consultant of Chile. Worldwide Contact Groupwho sought a peaceable answer to the political disaster Venezuela. It was additionally as much as them to barter in mid-2021 “Roadmap” with which the bilateral agenda was normalized and resumed within the center Chile and Bolivia, After the defeat of the Bolivian authorities in The Hague, he sought to power Chile to barter a sovereign exit to the ocean and the Silala River. As well as, he labored actively within the International Ministry group that outlined the thesis of the prolonged continental shelf and which allowed Chile to oppose Argentine claims on the southern seas and the Antarctic area.
On the finish of July 2023Upon his arrival in Chile, Capdevila appeared earlier than Undersecretary de la Fuente. As a delegated ambassador, he was subordinate to the Undersecretary. However he was not assigned any work.
In keeping with folks near the diplomat, Capdevila “complained concerning the lack of respect proven in direction of him” and criticized the carelessness with which the International Ministry had dealt with the problem with Canada.
Sources within the overseas ministry imagine that final yr’s Below Secretary RR.EE, He has met Capdevila a minimum of thriceall of this on the request of the ambassador himself. However they categorically deny that they’ve been provided any place, not to mention a brand new embassy, as a result of the abstract has not been concluded.
In these conversations, sources say José Miguel Carrera ConstructingCapdevila would even have requested to obtain extra background data on the abstract and to expedite the method in opposition to him. And that, though the ambassador has been supplied with the mandatory background for his protection, it’s the presentation of the attraction by Capdevila that has additionally influenced the method to stay open.
Impartial of this, final yr the Ministry of Exterior Affairs has changed the heads of eight directorates and divisions South AmericaHowever no provide was made.
Neither is it talked about in any of the embassy letters which have turn into accessible.
In final MarchThe brand new Secretary for Basic Coverage of the Chancellery, rodrigo olsenphoned Capdevila to ask him for espresso. It appeared just like the ambassador’s luck would flip and he would come out of the freezer.
It was not. Olsen would have informed them that on the fifteenth flooring of the José Miguel Carrera constructing, the place the chancellor and undersecretary’s workplaces are situated RR.EE., they had been considering of asking him to report one thing from residence.
Capdevila didn’t settle for the provide.
By then, the second prosecutor in command of the abstract in opposition to Capdevila, Carla Serazi ChangThe present head of the Multilateral Affairs Division had already closed the investigation and proposed imposing a three-month suspension on the ambassador as punishment. Serazi took over the method in August final yr, after the primary prosecutor within the case. Paula López Kirbywould go away the case unpunished for not following the principles established by administrative statute for a abstract prosecution in opposition to a high-ranking official. Serazi’s appointment stunned Minerol, since he knew instantly certainly one of Capdevila’s complainants, Paula GonzalezWith whom he had labored years in the past after they each met in Geneva.
Prosecutor Serazi despatched 27 November 2023 its conclusion to the Below Secretary of the RR.EE, Fountain of Glorywho, inside their powers, and after analysing the arguments of the complainants and the defence, made the choice fifteenth April The previous has lowered the sanction by one diploma, so solely an equal financial penalty might be imposed on the diplomat 20% of your wage for 3 months. A sentence that Capdevila had already served throughout the yr has been “frozen” in his Santiago house.
Final April, Capdevila, along with Sergio Mejías, the lawyer who represented him within the case, introduced an attraction to the Chancellor. Alberto Van Klaveren,
His protection denied the allegations of arbitrary discrimination denounced by Paula González, First Secretary of the Embassy in Paris, who complained that the ambassador didn’t give her the particular objects she wanted to work because of her imaginative and prescient issues, regardless of being informed that he did. She was given a particular laptop and fluorescent indicators had been positioned on stairs and hallways to facilitate her work and actions.
Equally, he additionally refuted the complaints of office harassment submitted by the present Embassy Counsellor. Nazla Abadin opposition to the previous ambassador.
Capdevila’s protection additionally criticized the truth that the prosecutor was in command of the method They questioned solely 5 out of 17 officers Because of this, he distributed letters despatched by administrative and diplomatic workers that supported Capdevila’s “exemplary conduct” throughout his administration in Paris.
Nearly two months after the attraction, International Minister Van Klaveren has not but issued a decision, so the abstract process stays open and the ambassadorship stays “frozen”.