The fierce fire in
Los Alerces National Park
, in the province of Chubut, complicates his picture.
While they point out that it was intentional and investigate a former brigade member who claims to be Mapuche, the
Lof Paillako
community responded to the accusations of Governor Ignacio “Nacho” Torres:
“The Mapuche-Tehuelche people do not burn the forests.”
Governor Ignacio Torres appeared in court to denounce
Cruz Cárdenas
as responsible for the flames that hit the Cordillera.
“He directly blames our people for the fire that is unfortunately occurring in Futalafquen, within what is now known as Los Alerces National Park,” they stated.
“We want to make it clear that the Mapuche people are carrying out a historic struggle in defense of the ñuke mapu (mother earth),” they stated, adding that
“the forests are an essential part of our itrofil mongen (life in all its manifestations)
and “We would never hurt him.”
The fire that started on Thursday night in the middle of an unusual heat wave in Patagonia, in the area of the Centinela stream, near Rosales Bay on Lake Futalafquen,
remains active.
The fight against the forest fire continues in the Los Alerces National Park, in Chubut.
"It already has an area of
more than two thousand hectares.
It is 70% within the park, 30% in the province," explained Mayor Danilo Hernández Otaño.
In addition, he clarified that
"there is danger" since "it is spreading."
Using hand tools and water lines to control the fire, which has been active for six days, some
348 people are working on the operation
, while 246 are deployed on the ground, specifically dedicated to fighting the fire.
The response of the Mapuche community went beyond defense.
He added an attack: “We know of the extractivist interests that, for example, the land-owning magnate
(Joe) Lewis has within the Los Alerces National Park.”
They stated that "a few weeks ago they announced the construction of a hydroelectric dam, among other real estate interests that exist right in the area where the fire started."
They recalled that "recently they tried to start a fire at the entrance to the Paillako lof and pu lamuen (sisters) who live there with brigade members, were able to put an end to it and not let it grow."
“As Mapuches we know that
we would be incapable of doing what the governor says
and we want our voices to be heard everywhere,” they indicated.
From the community they spoke of an intention from the provincial government of "an attempt to divide our people, trying to establish once again the idea of 'good and bad Mapuches.'" At that point, they asserted: "We will not let
them try to separate like che (people).”
“They have already killed and evicted our ancestors who lived in total harmony with the mapu (land) for more than five hundred years (...) They will not be able to defeat us because we will always resist and protect the itrofil mongen,” they concluded.”
The active fire
“The sensitive areas are those located in the west, towards Lake Futalaufken, where you can eventually find homes and, of course, towards the southeast, with the head of the fire, which is
heading towards the Trafipan lagoon, where there are also some houses”
, the mayor warned.
The behavior of the fire is not uniform due to the topography of the place, characterized by irregular slopes and ravines.
There are
5 air resources of the National Fire Management Service (SNMF),
with the operation of 3 helicopters;
2 hydrant planes;
an observation plane;
road machinery and hot spot observation drones, recalled from the Unified Command.
Currently working in collaboration to control the fire are agents from Los Alerces National Park, other national parks, brigades from the Provincial Fire Management Service of the province of Chubut and the National Fire Management Service, as well as volunteer firefighters from Esquel and Trevelin.
On the other hand,
the weather "is not favorable" to control the fire
, Otaño said.
"It is a time of
extreme fire danger index,"
he said, adding that "the fuel made up of the vegetation that is in the fire zone has a very low moisture content due to the high temperature, low atmospheric humidity and the number of days without precipitation, which has been going on for approximately two months now.
S.C.