“On behalf of these people who should have been looked after by the justice system, from this Court we apologize for what the judicial system did to them”. With this forceful phrase, Judge Claudia Criscioni, president of the Sentencing Court, apologized to all the victims of Ramón González Daher (RGD), sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crimes of usury, money laundering and false statement. With this timely apology, she also condemned prosecutors and judges who betrayed their mission to protect victims by being part of the Luque gang that stripped thousands of people of their property, their dignity, their future, their survival.
This verdict was the epilogue of the resounding fall after the long reign of the González Daher clan, a mafia that ran a city and the institutional legal system at its will thanks to its economic and political power.
The fundamental leg of the scheme was supported by the now deceased Oscar González Daher (ANR). By abusing his role as legislator, he consolidated the criminal structure by integrating the Judges’ Prosecution Jury and placing himself to the right hand of every president of the Republic since 1998. From his key position, he knew how to subdue prosecutors and judges, many of them were victims, others were as corrupt as him, who took advantage of the political nexus to take or avoid responsibilities, and most of them faint-hearted who did not dare to confront the absolute power in order not to lose their positions and privileges. This is something that should call for a deep reflection in the union of prosecutors and judges, chosen precisely to confront the corrupt and criminals. Courage is an indispensable and unavoidable requirement to exercise both positions.
THE BEGINNINGS. After two decades of absolute reign, the foundations of the clan began to crumble in 2017 with the leaked audios that proved influence peddling and the pressure to prosecutors, judges and any adversary that crossed their path. He was the first one expelled from the Senate, but his electoral power in Luque and his enormous fortune gave him a privileged place in the cartista list, and was reelected in 2018. Cornered by the Justice system and the brave citizen pressure, he was forced to resign from his seat that same year, because his political friends also let go of his hand. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison for illicit enrichment and false declaration. He bit the dust of prison, accompanied by his son. He was released on parole and died on 21 October. In this way, his brother, Ramón, lost the political support that his brother maintained in a residual form and that he tried to regenerate, as could be seen in the election of his son as councilman.
BRAVE, HALFWAY. The case of the clan (in its mafia meaning) starkly shows the weakness of the judicial system, which only dared to put its hand on the then senator only after the audios scandal. Everyone knew that for decades they had been dedicated to institutional pressure and to accumulating fortunes through the usurious plundering. Prosecutor Osmar Legal pointed out that during a raid almost 5,000 checks were seized that served as collateral for the loans. Some date from 1990. In other words, the Public Prosecutor’s Office began to investigate it when it was in a state of decline.
The mafia State has that capacity for self-purification. When the herd is in danger, it hands over one of its own to save itself and thus maintain its survival.
Undoubtedly, in this epilogue it should be noted that Brian Skaret’s discreet but uncomfortable presence in the courtroom reveals that the North continues to distrust the judicial system. The resident legal advisor to the US Department of Justice had also observed the trial of Óscar González Daher.
BREATH OF AIR. The court’s sentence chaired by Claudia Criscioni and integrated by Yolanda Morel and Yolanda Portillo (both were also part of the court that convicted the former senator) is a breath of fresh air in the face of so much corruption and hopelessness. And the fact that it has granted the maximum penalty for the crime of usury also speaks of the good work of the Prosecutor’s Office.
However, neither the State Attorney General, nor the Jury of Magistrates nor the Supreme Court can feign insanity after this ruling. RGD had 156 complaints for fraud. His main theater of operations for the prosecutorial pressure was Luque and other units of the Central Department. There are about thirty prosecutors who must explain their actions, and surely several judges as well.
In order for the justice system to be strengthened, this case should not end by putting the usurer, liar and money launderer behind bars, but also all the prosecutors, judges and political accomplices who were part of this perverse mafia that not only generated a money industry but also corrupted everything in its path. Only then should a similar case not occur again in the Rule of Law.
