He Chilean ambassador to the United States, Juan Gabriel Valdésstated in Cooperative that although the bilateral relationship is in a good moment, the sayings of Republican Senator Marco Rubiowho warned the presence of the terrorist group Hezbollah in our countryrequired a «firm response».
The diplomat sent a note of protest to the US Upper Houseafter last Thursday, in a session of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, intended to analyze the situation of transnational criminal networks and corruption in the region, Rubio said that «one place in particular where that has been happening for a while is Chile».
«We have seen multiple cases of these Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) associated with foreign terrorist organizations in our hemisphere,» he warned, stating that «There are reasons to worry that (the Boric Government) is not doing enough to put an end to these financial networks from the Chilean side, despite our sanctions and others that identify Hezbollah for what it is,» added the Republican.
«Relations with the US are going through a great moment; this incident has no relation to the quality of the relations that we have built and are developing, therefore, I do not see that there is an incident that will alter them in any case, It is simply an incident that needed a firm response from Chile«declared the ambassador in The Cooperative Journal.
Valdés added that, after discussing the matter with the US State Department, its officials assured him that «There is no dispute that Chile is working very well with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) many years ago, and that the sentences spoken by the director of the PDI (Eduardo Cerna) are perfectly clear: There is no evidence of Hezbollah presence in Chile«.
«The reaction we had was to a factual claim, that is, Senator Rubio did not even ask the question, but rather stated that in the past, there was Chilean companies that were punished by the US for their relations with terrorist groupsand that is strictly not true,» he confirmed.