President Santiago Peña stated that judicial cases involving parliamentarians should be treated with the same criteria, regardless of party affiliation, when referring to the situations of former senators Erico Galeano and Hernán Rivas.
Peña maintained that, in Galeano's case, the instances of political analysis in Congress have already been exhausted and recalled that the then-legislator submitted to the Justice system from the beginning of the process. "Before I assumed the Presidency, when he received the first complaint, I had asked him to submit to the Justice system. His parliamentary immunity was lifted, then he was sworn in as senator, it was lifted again, and he again submitted to the process," he stated.
The president also recalled that, after the first sentence, Galeano requested leave from the Senate and, after the confirmation of the conviction by a Chamber, Congress understood that his resignation or eventual loss of mandate was appropriate. However, Peña insisted that there must be equal criteria for all parliamentarians. "There cannot be one yardstick for legislators from the Colorado Party and a different yardstick for legislators who are not from the Colorado Party. I believe the yardstick must be the same for everyone," he said.
In this context, he pointed out that, in the Legislative Branch, there have been precedents where, in his view, the treatment applied was not equivalent according to the political sector involved.
Peña was also questioned about the case of Hernán Rivas and the doubts surrounding the validity of his university degree. In response, he defended the work of the National Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (ANEAES) and supported the head of the institution, José Duarte. Finally, he maintained that the control and review process driven by the agency is making visible irregularities that had not previously been exposed publicly.