The three detained in the jurisdiction of the province of Entre Ríos in alleged flagrante delicto trying to start a fire on the islands of the Paraná Delta are natives of Santa Fe and will be investigated in the coming days by the Federal Justice, judicial sources reported Monday.
Meanwhile, political officials expressed their expectation that this action implies “a before and after” for those responsible for starting fires in said wetland.
The three arrested who are from the Santa Fe city of Villa Constitución and were arrested last Sunday with a boat with an outboard motorremained this Monday at the disposal of the Federal Court of the town of Victoria, in charge of Federico Martín.
arrests
This is a 54-year-old man and his 18- and 22-year-old children who remain in the Penal Unit of the Entre Ríos city of Victoria after being found trying to set a fire in an area of the islands of the Paraná River delta, in front of the Santa Fe town of Dry Creek.
On the “Isla del Holandés”, on the banks of the Los Laureles stream, police personnel carrying out a patrol detected them trying to burn dry vegetation in the area, claiming to be beekeepers and that they started the fire as a “cleaning method”.
Given this situation, the federal judge of Victoria, Federico Marín, ordered his arrest and the seizure of a pitchfork, a wide shovel, a lighter, three cell phones and a boat.
The detainees were identified with the acronym DRH, 54 years old; and their children RDAH, 22; and AIH, 18, all residing in the Santa Fe town of Villa Constitución.
After giving an investigative statement, Judge Marín ordered that they continue to be detained in Penal Unit 5 of that city of Entre Ríos.
According to the daily report of the National Fire Management Service (SNMF), in Buenos Aires five active foci persist in the delta areaamong them in the departments of Zárate and Baradero, while on the Entre Ríos side the fires continue in Ranchada, Laguna Vásquez, Barrancoso, Las Vueltas (Victoria) and El Cuadro, Ybicuy, Falso Alsina, Islas, Dormilon (Gualeguay). .
They also reported that the outbreaks in the areas of Laguna chata (Victoria) and Charly 2 (Gualeguay) were contained, while the fire in Islas La Lechiguana 1 (Gualeguay) was extinguished.
The agency also maintains more than 100 brigade members in the delta area fighting the fire and reported that it has three hydrant planes, three helicopters with heli buckets and an observer plane available.
The Minister of Government of Entre Ríos, Rosario Romero highlighted the “incessant task” of brigade members and police and judicial personnel to “determine who are the authors of the fires.”
“We continue with other data and testimonies that the judge is analyzing to determine other authors of this enormous problem that we have on the islands,” he told the press, highlighting the “disposition of the Justice” to “establish those responsible” and called for “care nature and life.
The damages
Forest fires on the islands of the Paraná River that have been recorded in recent days They have already consumed more than 10,000 hectares, according to data from the Environmental Observatory of the National University of Rosario (UNR).
Political demonstrations, environmentalists and self-convened citizens were held in Rosario; and last Saturday the Rosario-Victoria bridge was cut to demand the cessation of these “intentional” burnings and the “urgent” treatment of a Wetlands Law.
In Buenos Aires, meanwhile, five active foci persist in the delta area, among them in the departments of Zárate and Baradero, while on the Entre Ríos side the fires continue in Ranchada, Laguna Vásquez, Barrancoso, Las Vueltas (Victoria) and El Cuadro, Ybicuy, Falso Alsina, Islas, Dormilon (Gualeguay), according to the body dependent on the Ministry of Environment.
The cause
After being notified of the detention court, the federal prosecutor’s office in charge of Claudio Kishimoto intervened – who subrogates that position from the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Victoria – who ordered the arrest of the three men, the seizure of their cell phones, the tools related to the investigation and the boat in which they were traveling, police sources reported.
The Federal Court of Victoria He has been involved in the investigation of grassland burning since mid-July, when he received a complaint about it.
The controls that allowed the arrests were carried out yesterday by a patrol from the Entre Ríos security force, with specialized personnel for land, nautical and aerial actions “with the mission of early warning, designed to attend to and prevent fire outbreaks.”
The Secretary of the Environment of Entre Ríos, Daniela García, confirmed the arrests this morning.
“We are not going to have more information than this until the judge interviews them,” the official said in statements to Radio “La Ocho” in Rosario.
And he added that “we do know that they were found with elements with which they had been generating fires.”
The head of Civil Defense of the province of Santa Fe, Roberto Rioja, declared to the same radio that he hopes that the arrests will operate as “a before and after for the (fire) pins that do so much damage.”
Last Tuesday The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Juan Cabandié, warned that “if justice does not take exemplary actions” Citing the investigation of the people linked to the fields that are burned in the Paraná islands, this practice “will continue to be carried out.
The official made these statements after his presentation in the Federal Court of Victoria with information about the owners of burned fields.
The minister appeared accompanied by the Secretary of Environmental Control and Monitoring, Sergio Federovisky, with whom he provided additional information on the burnings to that provided on July 15 in the same court.
Later, Cabandié recalled that “two years and a month ago we presented ourselves as plaintiffs in court for the fires that occurred in 2020. In August of that year, the National Ministry of the Environment took over the jurisdiction of the fire that was previously in another jurisdiction of the National state”.
And he added that they were “expanding complaints and bringing information from the satellite geolocation that we obtain, and on the other hand the five conservation beacons that we have established in different areas of the Paraná (river) delta.”
