“Of course we have the victims in mind”: Minister Izkia Siches responds to criticism after stating that she had not seen a “direct attack on civilians” in the south

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.

The senator and president of the UDI, Javier Macaya, questioned Siches’ words, asking himself: “In what country does Minister Izkia Siches live?”

“Have you forgotten the Luchsinger-Mackay couple, Juan Barrios or Moisés Orellana? There have been countless direct attacks on schools, truck drivers and civilians in recent years in the Southern Macrozone,” he said.

The president of Renovación Nacional, Francisco Chahuán, indicated that “in all honesty, Minister Siches, either you lack a sense of reality or you do not know the depth of what is happening in the Region of La Araucanía and Biobío, or there is a lot of ideological bias Direct attacks on civilians are permanent and daily, it is very important that the State of Constitutional Exception be restored with all the powers.”

The ruling party also joined the criticism, being the senator of the Socialist Party, Fidel Espinoza, who summoned the Secretary of State.

“They burned alive a married couple of older adults; daily we witness attacks on civilians. In the South Macrozone there is multicrime; robberies, drug trafficking, kidnappings and attacks on civilians. What do you mean by this?”

After this, 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 concluded.