The Supreme Court recognized the property right of José Massú Márquez —owner of two parcels in the Valparaíso Region and which more than a year ago were taken over by 85 people— and ordered that the usurpers must leave the properties within a certain period, asking In addition, that different government portfolios be officiated about the decision. The owner went to the instance after an appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso.
The ruling of the Third Chamber of the country’s highest court, made up of the ministers Mario Carroza and Jean Pier Matus, together with the lawyers Enrique Alcalde and Pedro Águila, states that “the property must be abandoned, with a maximum period of six months from the date this sentence becomes enforceable, and their belongings must be removed from the place, as well as the constructions carried out in the settlement.” Otherwise, “the immediate eviction is ordered, of course, with the help of the public force in case of opposition ”.
The document recorded by Radio Biobío maintains that an element that should be paid attention to is “the lack of speed in the processing of the different legal actions provided for in our legal system to obtain the restitution of immovable property occupied in an irregular manner.” According to the Supreme Court, then, even when there are different ways for such a task, whether through the exercise of civil or criminal actions, “it is no less true that the rights of use and enjoyment of the owner of the property will be seen to a great extent diminished due to the prolonged processing of such procedures for different reasons derived from the impossibility of identifying the occupants, their complex notification and other circumstances that make it difficult to single out those required”.
The ruling adds that “if the eviction of the occupants is necessary, the respective municipality in coordination with the corresponding ministerial portfolios, that is, the Ministry of the Interior, Housing and Urban Planning, National Assets and Social Development, must implement provisionally, an enclosure that meets the appropriate conditions where the evicted persons are housed or sheltered after the release”.
Finally, the Supreme Court ministers request that the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security be notified, “in order to ensure that the eviction, if necessary, is carried out under the conditions noted in the eighth foundation of this ruling.”
It was also requested that the records be sent to the Public Ministry for the pertinent purposes.
“This (ruling) is an endorsement of property rights,” lawyer Waldo del Villar told the aforementioned radio station.
It is worth mentioning that the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court changed the criteria it had adopted in January 2022, when it held that it was the affected party who had to coordinate with the state authorities to carry out the eviction.
