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Original article: Universidad Autónoma bajo la lupa en la Araucanía: Destapan millonaria trama y conflicto de intereses durante GORE de Chile Vamos

Government Audit Uncovers Potential Conflicts of Interest in La Araucanía Regional Government

A confidential preliminary report from the General Comptroller of the Republic (CGR), accessed by Radio BioBío, published on April 10, 2026, unveiled a potential network of conflicts of interest within the previous administration of the Regional Government (GORE) of La Araucanía during the tenure of former governor Luciano Rivas Stepke (Chile Vamos). 

The audit reveals the hiring of siblings, parents, and other direct relatives of public officials, including the brother-in-law of Rivas himself, who issued 32 receipts totaling $19,500,000.

The oversight body found that these familial connections were involved in projects that the state agency both evaluated and financed, establishing an undisclosed conflict of interest structure. The scheme involves substantial transfers to the Autonomous University of Chile, which received $21.8 billion between 2021 and 2023, representing 53.7% of the over $40 billion distributed by GORE to eight higher education institutions.

Expedited Agreements and Significant Transfers

The Comptroller also discovered that two of the agreements awarded to the Autonomous University were approved in record time: just six hours for processing, compared to a normal average of seven business days for such procedures. The university acted as an intermediary for distributing funds to small and micro-businesses under the pretense of post-pandemic economic reactivation, providing subsidies ranging from 5 to 10 million pesos per beneficiary.

In response to the irregularities, former governor Luciano Rivas Stepke stated, as quoted in the publication: “I was not aware that a family member was providing services as a supplier within this program. These hires were made directly by the beneficiaries, independently.”

Governor Saffirio Claims Conflict of Interest and Fiscal Paralysis: “Regional Prosecutor is an Employee of the Autonomous University”

The current regional governor, René Saffirio, elaborated on the accusations on April 2, 2026, in statements to Radio Cooperativa, directly targeting the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Saffirio asserted: “The Regional Prosecutor is not investigating because the regional prosecutor is also an employee of the Autonomous University”, adding that “we have a significant problem. The major issue we face pertains to the fact that we have a Public Ministry that does not investigate”.

*Saffirio described the existence of “a plan executed over nearly four years in the previous administration, aimed at transferring resources to private entities under the pretext of overcoming economic difficulties from the pandemic, with these funds mostly ending up in the hands of political actors, their relatives, or friends of the former regional governor.” 

He specifically mentioned a former deputy, his spouse, and his father-in-law, as well as Alejandro Martini, the former president of the Republican Party, and former parliamentarian Diego Paulsen (RN).

In this context, Governor Saffirio concluded to Cooperativa: “There can be no impunity. We need to recover those resources, and we are currently in that process regardless of who is responsible, or which political sector they belonged to, belonged, or belong to. Honestly, I don’t care. What matters is that there is no impunity on one hand, and on the other, we can recover the resources.” The Comptroller continues its audit process while the Public Ministry keeps the investigation open regarding fiscal fraud.

Deep Connections Between the Regional Executive and the University

The plot extends to the executive branch during the current administration of José Antonio Kast: the current Presidential Delegate in La Araucanía, Francisco Ljubetic, is a former regional prosecutor, ex-dean of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences at the Autonomous University of Temuco, and the founder of its Law program. 

According to a report by Radio BioBío, in April 2024, while an employee of that institution, Ljubetic acted as the defense attorney for Susan Alarcón, the former division chief of GORE accused of fiscal fraud and bribery in the ‘Manicure’ case, seeking to revoke her preventive detention.

It should be noted that the Autonomous University of Chile has links to Teodoro Ribera Neumann and his family. A lawyer and politician from the National Renewal party, he is a well-known former minister under Sebastián Piñera (Justice 2011-2012; Foreign Affairs 2019-2020) and rector of the university. He was a deputy (1990-1998) and has a long academic career in constitutional law.

La entrada Autonomous University Under Scrutiny in La Araucanía: Million-Dollar Scheme and Conflicts of Interest Exposed During Chile Vamos Administration se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.