Forestry sector guilds condemn new arson attack in Angol and demand guarantees from the State

The Futuro Madera network, a group that brings together six guilds from Chile's wood value chain, expressed its most energetic rejection and condemnation of the arson attack that occurred during the night of last October 13 in the commune of Angol, La Araucanía Region.

The group expressed its total solidarity with the forestry contractors, workers and families affected by this new act of violence. At the same time, they warned about the serious economic, social and human impact generated by systematic violence in the rural territories of the Macrozona Sur.

"After decades of violence that have hit the forestry world, we cannot normalize these events or accept that working and doing business in the macrozona sur means living with fear. Each attack destroys sources of work, opportunities and damages the lives of the entire community," they stated from Futuro Madera.

The forestry and timber sector sustains the development of hundreds of rural communes in the country, generating quality employment and livelihood for thousands of families. For this reason, the guild network emphasized that protecting workers and SMEs in the sector means defending the future of these territories.

Futuro Madera's reaction adds to that of other guilds in the productive sector, such as the National Society of Agriculture (SNA), whose president, Antonio Walker, energetically condemned the event, stating that "although we value the decrease in attacks in La Araucanía, events like this remind us that rural violence continues to be a serious and pending problem (...)".

Calls from the guild sector

René Muñoz, manager of the Association of Forestry Contractors (Acoforag), stated that "discouragement and abandonment by the State is the persistent feeling that forestry contractors have. When you face almost 30 years of terrorist violence, you see that it is too long a time in which the State has turned a blind eye to what is happening to our guild. It is true that today there is a State of Exception and the presence of military personnel, but the sources of work, investment, growth and development of the Region continue to be destroyed."

For his part, Antonio Soto, president of Corma Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos, expressed that "we categorically reject this attack. Attacking the same place where the minister was present to support the resumption of operations constitutes an open challenge to the authority and the State. We demand that the authorities dismantle the organized gangs and bring those responsible to justice; the State must guarantee that people can live and work without fear."

Demands on the Government and institutions

Finally, the guilds that make up Futuro Madera reiterated the urgent need for contractors, SMEs, companies and communities to have effective guarantees from the State to live and work in peace.

The network made a direct call to the Executive to establish working groups with those affected in order to implement concrete prevention and protection measures at the worksites, and urged police and judicial institutions to speed up investigations to clarify the attack and identify and punish those responsible.

Red Futuro Madera is made up of the Chilean Biomass Association (AchBiom); Association of Forestry Contractors (Acoforag);

Association of Native Forest Owners (Aprobosque); Chilean College of Forestry Engineers (Cifag) Chilean Wood Corporation (Corma) and Small and Medium-sized Wood Industry (Pymemad).