Addressing the future of the State of Emergency Constitutional Exception (EECE) in the south, President Gabriel Boric met the criticism of the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, who had to specify one of her statements after assuring that in the area “We had not seen a direct attack on civilians as we unfortunately saw this week.”
“When we talk about Segundo Catril or Juan Barrios, when we talk about Camilo Catrillanca or Joel Ovalle, it breaks my heart and we do not forget any of the victims. The Luchsinger-Mackay couple and all those who have lost their lives as a result of a conflict in that the State has not been able to generate the conditions to solve it,” said President Boric, after the launch of the “Let’s Make History” initiative within the framework of Heritage Day.
“What I ask of the parliamentarians, of our own government, is that we do not fall, and in this I fully support the Minister of the Interior, in sterile controversies. Here each death, each wound hurts us as a country. This cannot be An issue that is used to hit one government or another is a state problem,” added the President.
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Gabriel Boric added that “since 1997 with the first attack in Lumaco we have been experiencing a spiral of violence that has been ascending and has grown particularly in recent years. To stop it we cannot be on sides and in trenches, we have to act with vision of State in the long term, and that is what we are doing as a Government, using the powers that the law provides us to guarantee the safety of the inhabitants of the area, and also, as I have indicated, a comprehensive plan to address the depth of this conflict.”
It is worth mentioning that the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, was once again the target of various criticisms. This, after addressing the latest events in the southern part of the country, which ended with the death of Segundo Catril, a forestry worker who died last Tuesday in the Araucanía Region.
“We believe that the event we are experiencing this week is of the utmost seriousness. We had not seen a direct attack on civilians as we unfortunately saw this week,” said the Secretary of State.
The statements generated a series of criticisms from the parties belonging to Chile Vamos and even within the ruling party itself.
After the controversy, Minister Izkia Siches commented that “in these months, as a government, we had not seen an attack on civilians like the one in Lumaco.”
“Of course we have in mind the dozens of victims of the conflict. Their stories mandate us to find peace, justice, and a substantive solution. We have been working on that from day one,” he said.
On the other hand, in relation to the possible extension of the State of Exception in the south, President Boric affirmed that they have been talking with different authorities in the area, since “you have to listen a lot” and at the same time “have firm decisions “. In that sense, he revealed that “on Monday we are going to communicate how we will continue with this process, but we are moved by the conviction that there is a deep political problem and that in order to solve it we have to put a lot of work into land policy, face the isolation , poverty, improve connectivity in the area”.
Meanwhile, the head of state specified that in the sector of La Araucanía and the provinces of Arauco and Malleco, with nearly 22,000 kilometers of roads, “we have 78 checkpoints and we have released police operative forces so that they can be assigned to the control of public order”.
