Former official under Bolivia’s Morales seeks asylum in Chile after being rescued

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the Presidential Delegate for the Region, Daniel Agusto, Eduardo Peinado Rivero, former Deputy Minister of Medium and Large Enterprises, and Industry of Bolivian President Evo Morales, has requested political asylum from Chilean authorities.

The minister and his partner were rescued along with their pet when they attempted to enter Chile via the Licancabur volcano in San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, in -8 degrees Celsius temperatures.

“He claims to be politically persecuted in his country. Logically, due to the conditions in which he entered Chile, there is a complex situation,” the authority said.

Eduardo Peinado is in the Carlos Cisternas Hospital after being found with hypothermia and dehydrated.

The former deputy minister’s partner alerted the Carabineros to the situation through a phone call. The woman was able to provide some coordinates of his location and explained that the vehicle they were traveling had broken down.

The rescue operation involved municipal employees, firefighters, and the Carabineros Special Operations Group (GOPE).

“The border unit and the rescue team immediately went to the sector of the Chaksa Pass, which was not authorized for border crossing, to help them, but they only found footprints,” explained Lieutenant Juan Zarate of the San Pedro de Atacama unit.

“These two were in a fairly deep ravine that was relatively far from an access road. Subsequently, the helicopter landed near where they were, and they were taken in the helicopter and eventually brought to Calama,” said the chief of national defense of Antofagasta, Brigadier General Pedro Nadeau Pavez.

Eduardo Peinado was investigated in 2012 for overcharging more than US$7 million in the purchase of Empresa Estratégica Papeles de Bolivia and was remanded in custody as a result.

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