Diario Libre reports on the saga of the stolen vehicles that were recovered by the police and covertly distributed to people other than their rightful owners. Police are now working to match the original owners with the vehicles. The first 50 vehicles were made available this week. Of the 50, 25 were returned to their proprietors, 16 are now the property of insurance companies who had already paid the owners for their loss, seven are property of the Superintendence of Insurance (due to their coverage with Segna and Intercontinental, two now-defunct insurance companies) and two were awarded to the Customs Department.
The newspaper reports on the outrage of Diego Pena, who claimed possession of his Mitsubishi 2002 vehicle. He discovered that the vehicle had been given to one Milkelys Soraya Aguasvivas Casado and that, despite the use of false data, an insurance policy had been issued in her name by Proseguros and the vehicle’s chassis number of the vehicle had been altered. The newspaper reports that this is not the only such case. Of the 50 vehicles that were to be returned to their original owners, several had had their chassis numbers altered, some of which the detectives are unable to restore. Pena told the newspaper that he, like many others who suffered the loss of their vehicle, would sue, and he complained of the irresponsibility of the National Police in not revealing the names of the officers who made illicit use of the vehicles.
Manuel Iglesias got back his pickup, and as reported in Hoy newspaper, he noticed the lock had been changed. He said it was stolen five days after he bought it, and he did not even have time to take out the license plate.
It is now apparent that the police appropriated the vehicles and used them both for official and personal reasons. Several of the vehicles were reassigned to third parties.
Insurance companies have claimed 300 vehicles in irregular condition and, with the change of government, began to exert pressure again to resolve the situation. This pressure led to the chief of police ordering his officers to return the vehicles.
There is general expectation in the population regarding whether there will be impunity for the police officers that benefited from the use of the stolen vehicles.