By Andres Kogan Valderrama
HAVANA TIMES – The tragedy we are facing in Chile as a result of the huge fires in the Valparaíso Region, has left more than 100 dead, 300 missing, over 3000 houses burned, many pets lost, and thousands of hectares scorched. It has been devastating for the country, with the Boric government declaring a state of emergency and national mourning.
Hence, everything has been focused on extinguishing the fires and providing the corresponding assistance to all affected families, who are going through a real hell, especially in cities like Viña del Mar, Quilpue, Villa Alemana, and Limache, where authorities, firefighters, and various civil society organizations are doing everything they can in the face of these dramatic circumstances.
However, this catastrophe has also been accompanied by a poor public debate in traditional media and on social networks, regarding the causes of these fires. Instead, focusing on the intentionality of certain groups in their spread, rather than the historical structural causes and the lack of socio-environmental policies that would allow systemic responses to all this.
Hence, there has been talk that the fires have been caused by political groups, vandals, and even by a real estate cartel, which would be using terror as a means to generate institutional destabilization and economic gain from the tragedy we are facing. They forget that it is within a context of climate crisis and increasing global temperatures, not giving it that fact the weight it should have.
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