The Chilean president, Gabriel Boricinsisted this Tuesday that the security forces “will search everywhere for anyone found lighting a fire” and that those responsible “will be subject to the weight of the law and the repudiation of an entire society” because The damage caused is “immeasurable.”
(Also: 'Only the walls were left of my house': the stories of those affected by fires in Chile)
The president assured, at a press point from Viña del Mar, one of the communes affected by the devastating fires that have so far left 131 dead, that There are several arrests for starting the fires and also several complaints against people “who are trying to light fires”.
“We are going to find those miserable people and put them behind bars,” he reiterated.
(We recommend: Why were the fires in Chile, which left more than 100 dead, so destructive?)
To accelerate the investigations of the alleged crimes, the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, requested this Monday that The Prosecutor's Office prioritizes the investigation of those possibly responsible and requested that a prosecutor be appointed exclusively dedicated to the investigation..
Since the beginning of the forest fires, which last Friday charred the hills of four communes in the Valparaíso region (Viña del Mar, Villa Alemana, Quilpué and Limache), firefighters and authorities have pointed to intentionality.
(Also: The factors that would be behind the high lethality of fires in Chile)
Aerial photography of the Achupallas sector affected by forest fires in Viña del Mar (Chile).
The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, admitted this morning, in an interview with a local media, that “There are enough elements to assume” that these incidents were “intentionally caused”, but presumably by “concerted groups”.
For his part, on Monday, the head of National Defense in the provinces of Valparaíso and Marga Marga, two of the most affected, Rear Admiral Daniel Muñoz, presented this idea for the first time in an interview: “There are indications of a pattern of behavior that “It indicates that there was planning, something orchestrated and organized,” he said.
(Continue reading: Chile: two people arrested in Viña del Mar for alleged responsibility in fires)
There are signs of a pattern of behavior that indicates that there was planning, something orchestrated and organized.
The regional governor of Valparaíso, Rodrigo Mundaca, also highlighted the “manifest intention” in the forest fires and said that those responsible “are a handful of miserable and criminals who have come to destroy this city.”
The Municipality of Valparaíso presented on Saturday a complaint against those responsible for the crime of arson.
Daniel Muñoz reported on Monday the arrest of two suspects of starting the fire in the vicinity of the Viña del Mar Botanical Garden, which was completely destroyed, however, the local Prosecutor's Office declined to charge them due to lack of evidence and both were released.
(You can read: Why were the fires in Chile so devastating? Three factors would be key)
Forest fire in the hills in the commune of Quilpe, Valparaíso region, Chile.
The fires started on Friday morning and spread quickly due to the strong gusts of wind in the area and the extreme temperatures of the last week. The high population density in difficult-to-access terrain, added to the prolonged drought in Chile, made extinction tasks difficult..
Until now, and according to the latest record from the National Forestry Corporation, the fires have burned almost 10,000 hectares in the Buenos Aires region.
EFE
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