The Carabineros Corps of Chile reported Tuesday that 31 people have already been arrested for their alleged involvement in the more than 300 forest fires that have been registered in various parts of the country.
General Carlos Gonzalez, Carabineros inspector, has indicated that, in addition, 218 people have been arrested for violating the curfew imposed by the fires in dozens of communes in the regions of Ñuble, Biobío and La Araucanía.
«Regarding this national emergency registered by forest fires, to date we have more than 31 people arrested in the context of the forest fires, who have been placed at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, so that the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with the means of proof, will ultimately see what has been their direct participation in the voluntary or irregular generation of a forest fire at a national level», explained Gonzalez.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office, for its part, has indicated that 26 of the detainees have been brought before the courts and at least 25 are facing charges at the moment, although four are already in custody, three under house arrest and two in custody.
Attorney General Angel Valencia has urged that the forestry industry be treated as a «victim» of these fires, which are already affecting the central and southern parts of the country. «Today, in the current situation of the investigation, the forestry industry is a victim of these facts», he has indicated in declarations collected by the news portal Emol.
«It is not up to me to supervise the administrative regulations, nor all those matters that are related to the control that the (National Forestry Corporation) Conaf may carry out and the way in which this may or may not have influenced the occurrence of the fires,» he said.
In this sense, he emphasized that «with the investigation it will be possible to establish that perhaps there was some type of non-compliance or if, on the contrary, they are pure victims».
The authorities are currently investigating a total of 600 forest fires, of which at least 25 are estimated to have been intentionally set. On Tuesday, the government indicated that nearly 100 are still out of control.
Conaf has warned that the Chilean population «has never been so exposed» to fires and has pointed out that this season «will be marked in historical records».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
