The arrest of the former chief of the Caminera Police, Maximiliano Ochoa Roldán, accused of leading a criminal organization, is neither an isolated nor a surprising event. It is just another symptom of what happens when political power becomes entrenched in the same structure for 26 years.
The judiciary is investigating extortion schemes, illicit enrichment, and the use of state resources for private purposes. However, the serious issue is not just the crime: the serious issue is the system that allows it.
La detención del exjefe de la Policía Caminera, Maximiliano Ochoa Roldán, acusado de liderar una asociación ilícita, no es un hecho aislado ni sorpresivo.
The power that is inherited, the privileges that are perpetuated
For more than two and a half decades, Córdoba has been governed by the same political group. A culture of impunity has been created in which certain sectors live off the State as if it were their own property.
It is not surprising, then, that police officers with more than twenty years of service, trained within that logic, have ended up operating as a mafia organization. The "parallel State" was not born yesterday: it is the consequence of the vices entrenched in power.La Justicia investiga maniobras de extorsión, enriquecimiento ilícito y uso de recursos estatales para fines privados.
A State for them, never for the people
The investigation details how vehicles, work schedules, and official databases were used for private business. Police power at the service of a few, while ordinary citizens are left unprotected in the face of growing insecurity.
This is not a coincidence: it is evidence of how the State became a tool of privilege, not a guarantor of rights. Corruption doesn't occur on the margins; it occurs at the very heart of the institutions.
La investigación detalla cómo móviles, horarios de servicio y bases de datos oficiales se utilizaron para negocios privados.
Córdoba needs real change
Prosecutor González spoke of "institutional gravity." He is right: when those who should protect the people of Córdoba end up acting as criminal gangs, the social contract is broken.
However, that breakdown is not the work of an individual, but of the political system that shelters them. Today, meanwhile, the people of Córdoba pay record taxes and live in fear of going out on the street, while some use power as their own business.
It is time to end this cycle of privileges and structural corruption. Córdoba needs to recover institutionality and transparency, and that will only be possible if the eternal "cordobesismo" that governed as the owner of the State comes to an end. Because what we see today in the courts is not an exception: it is the natural consequence of a power that never wanted to let go of the cash box.
