Chile: Mayor Critisized Piñera’s Government for Invoking Security Law to Stop Protests

Monday, January 17th 2011 - 16:34 UTC

Full article 5 comments

Vladimiro Mimica, Mayor of Punta Arenas, expressed that the measures taken by Sebastián Piñera’s government to invoke the Security Law in order to stop protests in Magallanes due to gas price hikes were “an overaction and inopportune”.

Local media made known that the Magallanes City Assembly had decided to open the access routes to the city of Punta Arenas, but that at midnight this decision was reversed and all routes were closed due to the announcement of the central government.

According to the newpaper La Nación and Radio Cooperativa, the Minister of Energy and Mining, Laurence Golborne, and the Sub Secretary of the Interior, Roseigo Ubilla, are expected to arrive in Punta Arenas sometime this morning in order to familiarize themselves with the situation that the city is in.

The Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Hinzpeter, announced yesterday that the government will invoke the Security Law in the Magallanes region in response to the strike over the increase of gas prices because “it is our obligation to guarantee public order”.

This measure was qualified by Mimica as “an overreaction and inopportune” since the people of Magallanes “have expressed themselves in a peaceful manner. There have not been any major problems or tragedies with the exception of the deaths of the two women which were the product of an accident”.

“This is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. We hope that nothing happens, that the citizens keep behaving as they have been, that they don’t react in a violent manner over an incident that could signify in a particular moment a provocation”, emphasized the city’s leader.

Dalivor Eterovic, a spokesperson for the City Assembly said of the governmental measure that “the logic behind the application of this law makes no sense. This is something that could only be thought up by a government lead by Sebastián Piñera, which is an authoritarian, violent, right wing government that uses violence to solve its problems: he did it on Easter Island, at La Araucanía, and now he wants to do it in Magallanes”.

Categories: Politics, Latin America.

Tags: gas, Magallanes, protests, Punta Arenas, Sebastián Piñera, Vladimiro Mimica.

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Think
Davilor and Vladimiro......

City slicker billonaire Piñera has no chance against our hardy Magallanes Croats

Fuerza Punta Arenas
El gas es de todos
Jan 17th, 2011 - 05:33 pm 0
Sergio Vega
Both of them are well known leftist politicians (Dalivor communist and Vladimiro socialist) so due their and the others leading the ACM, or Civilian Assembly of Magallanes, politic color has been no possible to reach an agreement over the last offer from gvt. which meets all our expectations with a 3% increasing (the last year consumers price index) keeping the consumption limits at 25.000 m3 up to September 30th, giving time enough to make a law project to rule the futures increases.
In this moment, the strike has lost the support of the CPC (big business union), AGIA (minor business union), Tourism Chamber, Commerce Chamber and the independent congressmen because it has been coped by politics interest from the leftist ACM leaders with a closed mind to any proposal that theirs one. The difference is just 3% or USD 2 (CL$ 900) in an average monthly bill, so is ridiculous keep fighting for that. The important thing is to get a ruled way to new increases in the long term future.
The looses have been very high to all the production sectors reaching USD 4 M, mainly the tourism and it´s coupled areas, both economics and in international image, with no yet quantified futures looses.
I hope the strike go down as soon as possible, even I was supporting it thought it was very fair to our geographical location, but now it has changed the goals that we have earlier last week.
“to eat fish and lie you must take care” is a paraphrase that the ACM leaders must keep in mind because they were who first hardened their position threaten to close the roads to all passengers and cargo to and from the regional cities from midnight Sunday, receiving from gvt.
the decision to apply the State Internal Security Law to ensure the freedom of people to move within the Chilean borders which they are forced to use by our Constitution in these cases.
Jan 17th, 2011 - 07:15 pm 0
Think
El Pueblo
Unido
Jamás Será Vencido !

The People
United
Will never be Defeated!
Jan 17th, 2011 - 08:06 pm 0

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