Within the framework of a “declared secret session” of the National Defense Commission of the Senate, they discussed, among other things, the Army’s concern regarding the announcement by the government of President Gabriel Boric about an “intermediate state” in the southern zone of the country.
In information provided by Thirdthe military institution raised “discomfort” with the announcement of the Executive to have the Armed Forces on the roads of the southern zone to contain the sustained rise in cases of rural violence in the sector.
The idea does not like anything in the Army, and as detailed Third, various military sources affirmed that it is not by “whim”, but because they do not have “neither the legal nor the political backing” to carry out public order tasks. This was reported to the Ministry of Defense and senators participating in the meeting.
Another of the proposals that keeps the Army in suspense is related to the fact that it is not specified in the project whether or not the military will be able to act in the face of acts of violence, which is added to what was proposed by the senator of the Communist Party, Daniel Núñez , regarding the possibility of the military guarding the routes and roads without the need to use their weapons, which was quickly dismissed by the Army because “we don’t have batons, tear gas, or cars that shoot water; we have conventional weapons.”
It is not the first time that the institution is contrary to its work in the streets carrying out security tasks and they recalled a case that occurred in La Serena, in the framework of the social outbreak, where the city’s Oral Criminal Trial Court condemned Army Corporal Cristian Care was sentenced to 12 years in prison for shooting a Venezuelan citizen who was looting a supermarket.
From the Armed Forces they warned that this situation makes them “rethink” about participation in public order work, since “the actions of the military will always be questioned, due to a matter of mistrust.”
In the commission, the Commander in Chief, Javier Iturriaga, represented the institution, making the Minister of Defense, Maya Fernández, see his reservations about the project and the personnel that will have to carry out those tasks.
