Santiago orders Castillo investigation
PUERTO VIEJO — Following up on a controversial campaign promise, President Jorge Santiago Solís has today ordered an investigation into his former election rival, Jimena Castillo Roldán. The former, and first female, Secretary of Foreign Affairs was accused in the run up to September's election of corruption and misappropriating state funds whilst in office from 2012 to 2017.
Despite the allegations, the Democratic Socislist Party's Castillo was cleared of any wrongdoing by the head of the National Investigation Bureau (ONI), Juan Cámara Rodríguez, just 2 weeks before election day. Supporters of the National Popular Party's Santiago, then and now, claim collusion and accuse former President Marco Juárez Barrios, who appointed Cámara as head of ONI, of pressuring him to clear Castillo.
Following an election marred by frequent violence and fierce rhetoric, Santiago, who often compared his opponent to a pig growing fat off the public test, narrowly won the presidential election while his populist, conservative National Popular Party swept to victory in the congressional elections. The shock result was cast into further chaos when Castillo, long the front runner and considered the natural successor to outgoing incumbent Juárez, and who often caricatured Santiago as a racist plantation owner, refused to concede defeat for 72 hours.
Making the announcement, President Santiago stated that Castillo is innocent until proven guilty and that she will remain at liberty, but added that the investigation to be led by the new head of ONI, Raúl Aguado Núñez, would be thorough.