Claudio Andrade
03/10/2021 3:45 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/10/2021 3:48 PM
For the representatives of the national government, there is no doubt that the
seven
fires that broke out in the Cordillera de Río Negro and Chubut between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning
were intentional
.
This was indicated by the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation, Juan Cabandié, who defined the event as a
"tragic situation
.
"
"Yesterday, in a period of three hours, there was simultaneity in seven different localities where
fire was intentionally set
," he said. Upon arriving in Esquel, he made a
criminal complaint
to ask the Justice "to investigate who the authors of this intention are;
it is a crime classified in the penal code ”.
For their part, Chubut and Río Negro officials agree with Cabandié's vision.
"I have no doubts that it was intentional
,"
the national deputy for Chubut, Santiago Igon
, told
Clarín
.
"This was
intentional and organized
and a limit was crossed," Fernando Arbat, Rio Negro's undersecretary of Forest Resources, assured this newspaper.
Look also
Dramatic images of the new source of fire in Las Golondrinas, Chubut, on the border with El Bolsón
"Specialists indicate that whoever did it
knew very well what he was doing,
" insisted the minister.
"If we continue with this rate of deforestation,
in 70 years we will be left without native forest
," he stressed.
So far, the only unofficial information on the possible perpetrators refers to
a
white
Volkswagen Gol vehicle
in which two or three people were traveling, who would be linked to the beginning of the fire in Las Golondrinas and Puelo.
Cars destroyed by the fires in Las Golondrinas, in the province of Chubut.
Photo: AP.
According to reports, this group
tried to burn a monastery on the
way to Cascada Escondida, near El Bolsón, around 1 am on Wednesday.
Finally, the residents of the area themselves contained the incident preventing greater evils, although they managed to visualize those responsible.
The first known fire source began at an INTA property in Las Golondrinas.
It was learned that an electric generator belonging to the Chubut Public Services electricity network
had suffered an attack that unleashed the first sparks
.
It is not the first time that these generators have been victims of an attack and on other occasions the SPC has filed complaints with the Justice.
The truth is that
clear suspects have not yet emerged
so far this day.
On social media and on the streets of the Andean Region, rumors point in different directions, but without evidence to reinforce the sayings.
Disgruntled provincial employees, radicalized Mapuche groups, outright vandalism, real estate interests, the hypotheses accumulate with the passing of the hours.
Consulted by
Clarín
, sources from the Security Ministry led by Sabina Frederic, indicated that a person from the National Gendarmerie and the Argentine Naval Prefecture is working in the Cordillera, but that
they are not engaged in any investigation
at the moment.
"We are waiting for court filings," said a voice close to Frederic.
“Today I am going to file a criminal complaint, because we are talking about an intentional focus.
The information we have is that the outbreaks were started intentionally, and whoever did it knew very well how to do to harm, ”Cabandié had announced.
In the afternoon, he made the complaint in the Federal Court of Esquel.
The area where the fire broke out and spread is populated by about
10,000 people
.
A large part of these families is dedicated to productive tasks such as the cultivation of fine fruit, the development of small liquor and sweet companies, among others.
There are also numerous families who have taken land to build their houses, so the native forest is populated by inhabitants.
In times of extreme heat and drought in the environment, human activity increases the possibilities of fires.
However, in the region they deny that it is an accident resulting from the mishandling of a campfire, as happened at the end of January in Cuesta Ternero.
“
Our Andean Region is on fire
, six simultaneous outbreaks in less than two hours destroyed hundreds of hectares, houses and displaced entire families from their homes, which are now ashes,
ecocides are a reality
, justice must act accordingly with the Fire Management Law, ”said the national deputy for Río Negro, Ayelén Sposito from the Frente de Todos.
Bariloche. Correspondent.
DD