The president of the Association of Municipalities of the Region of La Araucanía (AMRA), Alfonso Cokedenounced that there are six mayors receiving death threats after holding a meeting with the head of National Defense, General Edward Slater.
The meeting took place in the Mountain Detachment No. 8 “Tucapel”, where Slater invited the mayors of Cautín and Malleco in separate meetings to coordinate the security of the State of Exception that governs the area.
Coke appreciated the general’s invitation, emphasizing “that we be made a part of the important work being done by the Armed Forces and the police in the macrozone,” he stated. The Austral of Temuco.
“It is not that we want to be filled with soldiers, because it is not the solution or the path to peace, but as long as these violent groups exist, this work is important and as mayors it is our duty to collaborate,” added the mayor of the Cunco commune.
Alfonso Coke, specified that not all the mayors could go to the meeting, since they are “afraid to move.” We have six mayors in the region, especially Malleco, who are threatened with death by these groups that must be disrupted just as Spain did with ETA,” he said.
Given this, the mayor indicated that he would like them to be part of the self-defense courses that prosecutors will take against possible attacks. “We should also be included in the measure, since we move everywhere,” he said.
He also addressed the project -which has generated controversy on the political agenda- to ban civilian weapons, the AMRA leader pointed out that “those who must be disarmed are the criminals and those who lead the attacks, but we cannot take away their weapons to the people who have them registered for their personal defense”.
