Chilean lawyer and journalist Javier Pineda revealed this Tuesday on the program Sin Filtros that he was unable to file the criminal complaint he threatened to present against the Cuban Leonel Delgado because he could not obtain his identification number or address, as he is a migrant in an irregular situation in Chile.
The episode revisits the tense exchange that occurred on May 26 during the same program, when Delgado called Pineda a "criminal" live on air for claiming that "there is democracy in Cuba," sparking a confrontation that ended in insults and legal threats on camera.
In this Wednesday's broadcast, hosted by Felipe Bianchi in place of Gonzalo Feito —who was abruptly let go on Tuesday by producer Sebastián Eyzaguirre—, Pineda was direct: "If you provide me with the RUT and the address, I will file the complaint and personally sponsor it, but I haven't been able to obtain that information."
The panelist requested the program's production to provide him with that information, arguing that they were the ones who contacted Delgado to invite him. "Give me the RUT and the address. I will file the complaint; I'll take responsibility because I believe it's inappropriate to label those who think differently as criminals," he insisted.
Pineda also pointed out that Delgado had acknowledged his irregular immigration status and had asked former presidential candidate Johannes Kaiser to assist him in his regularization process, which he found contradictory to the campaign of the Libertarian National Party regarding irregular migrants.
The program itself summarized the situation in its post on social media X with the phrase: "I couldn't file a complaint against the Cuban because it was illegal!".
In Chile, a defamation lawsuit is a private criminal action that requires the identification of the accused, including their name and address, a requirement that Pineda could not fulfill as he was unable to find Delgado's information.
The original debate on May 26 had moments of high tension. Delgado shouted, "You are a criminal. To go to Cuba and praise a dictatorship that has oppressed my country for 67 years is criminal." Pineda responded, "You earned the complaint. You have the right to be a traitor, but not to slander."
In the face of the threat of deportation that arose in that exchange, the Cuban firmly challenged: "Where are they going to send me? Back to Cuba? So they can imprison me, so they can kill me?"
Delgado also claimed the insult "worm" that journalist Víctor Hugo Robles directed at him during that debate: "I prefer to be a worm than a communist. I feel proud."
The former candidate Kaiser, present on the program on May 26, made an ironic remark about Pineda's legal threat with a phrase that gained new relevance this Wednesday: "The lawyer is going to pay for it, Cuba."
The episode unfolds in a politically charged context in Chile regarding the island. In January, former President Gabriel Boric described the Cuban system as a "dictatorship", creating a rift within the ruling coalition and generating a crisis with the Communist Party, whose president, Lautaro Carmona, defended the existence of democracy in Cuba.
Although Sin Filtros has a large audience in Chile and parts of Latin America, the program is not considered traditional journalism; rather, it is a political debate and entertainment show characterized by constant ideological clashes, interruptions, and live confrontations.
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