Legal proceedings advance in Argentina disappearance trial and Chile corruption case

In Argentina, the trial regarding the disappearance of five-year-old Loan Danilo Peña has reached a critical stage with the first testimony of María Victoria Caillava. The former municipal official, who is accused of abduction and concealment alongside her husband, Carlos Guido Pérez, denied any involvement. Caillava testified that she and her husband never transported the child in their vehicle and requested a cell phone geolocation check to prove they drove directly home after a family lunch. She also suggested that the investigation might be influenced by regional drug trafficking and pointed toward former police commissioner Walter Maciel.

In Chile, the Iquique Oral Criminal Court has issued verdicts in the “LED Luminaries” corruption case. Rubén Alejandro Guisa Castro, a former municipal lawyer, was convicted of aggravated bribery for demanding payments to facilitate a public lighting tender. The court found that he used his position to solicit economic benefits from company executives. Conversely, municipal official Daniella Vargas Barbaric was acquitted of bribery, violation of secrets, and fraud to the treasury due to insufficient evidence. This conviction brings the total number of individuals sentenced in the LED case to 15.

Additionally, in La Plata, Argentina, legal proceedings continue for the murder of lawyer Verónica Dessio. Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for two defendants, Ivana Mapis and Antonio Alves, alleging a contract killing motivated by jealousy.