Senator Francisco Huenchumilla addressed the frustrated visit of Minister Izkia Siches to La Araucanía. He said she found out about it through the press, though she doesn’t pretend to be “special enough” to be tipped off. Of course, he pointed out that dialogue is a working method and not a solution to the problems of the inhabitants of the southern zone; where until recently the State of Constitutional Exception decreed by the previous government was still in force.
In interview with The Mercurythe DC parliamentarian stressed that “good political management in a visit of this nature should be discussed, at least, with the senators and deputies, important political actors in the area.”
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Asked if the government of President Gabriel Boric was naive or improvised, as Marcelo Catrillanca mentioned, in his failed visit to Temucuicui, Senator Huenchumilla pointed out that “the minister’s visit was not well prepared” since Araucanía “did not is any region” because there are “many actors”.
“You cannot expose the minister who has just taken office, a new and rising figure in national politics, to such an embarrassment. There was a mistake by her team and the minister, to the point that 10 days have passed and the government has not told us He says what he is going to do. Dialogue is a working method, not a solution to the problems of the inhabitants of La Araucanía,” said the congressman and militant of the Christian Democracy (DC), in conversation with the morning newspaper.
Huenchumilla, who acknowledges that he worked and voted for President Gabriel Boric and shares the changes he is proposing, but fifteen days after the start of the new government, he is worried because it seems that “the government is doing everything possible so that we become the opposition,” he said. that there must be a response to “the agricultural and forest lands; to the victims who have suffered attacks and damage; to the role of Carabineros in the intelligence services, to violence, and to organized crime.”
“It is assumed that the government teams studied it in their program and would have an answer,” added the Falangist senator, stressing that the Executive must be given the benefit of the doubt. In his words, “that this was a simple stumbling block and they will soon give concrete answers.”
Regarding whether or not there are Mapuche political prisoners in Chile, Senator Huenchumilla emphasized: “we must distinguish the legal from the political.”
“In La Araucanía we have a political problem in the relationship between the Mapuche world and the State. There are prisoners as a result of this political process that we could call political prisoners, but legally in Chile we do not have political prisoners,” he explained.
Senator Huenchumila also clarified that he is not an opponent nor is he part of the Executive. “I consider myself an independent senator willing to collaborate, but the government is doing everything possible so that we become the opposition, 16 days after arriving in La Moneda.”
“I say it as a parliamentarian that I am not from the Government, but I have the best disposition to collaborate with the changes that this new administration promises”, concluded the Senator of the Republic representing the District No. 11, Region of La Araucanía, legislative period 2018 -2026.
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