Arrau Asked for a Southern Plan and to Investigate Infiltration of Violent Groups in State Services

A security plan that includes intelligence work to detect the possible infiltration of members of violent organizations into the public apparatus is being requested by the productive sectors of the southern macrozone from the newly appointed Minister of Public Security, Martín Arrau.

The manager of the Forest Contractors Association, René Muñoz, emphasized the need for the Government to present its guidelines to dismantle violent groups. "We have been waiting for more than two months for information regarding some plan, with measures different from what we already know," he states. "Confirming what happened with the person who worked at the Maquehue Hospital and was an active member of the CAM demonstrates the dangerous advance of these groups. These dual roles must be detected somehow, through intelligence work," Muñoz stresses.

"We hope that the Secretary of State (Arrau), who has already been in the area for Public Works issues, makes a good deployment and presents a security plan for the southern macrozone, after the previous minister (Trinidad Steinert) never presented it, because, perhaps, she never had one," stated the former member of the Commission for Peace and Understanding and president of the Malleco Farmers Association, Sebastián Naveillán.

"We cannot overlook that a person works in a public place during the day and at night participates in attacks as a member of the CAM. A plan to eradicate violence and dismantle terrorism is urgent," says Naveillán.

Along with stating that there are favorable expectations regarding Arrau's management, he said that any plan "must be discussed with the victims and the unions affected by the violence, because we are the ones who live here, we know the reality, and we are the first to invest each year in our region, despite the insecurity we have experienced for years."

Regarding intelligence work in the area, Naveillán emphasized the case of Álvaro Quinchanao Hueche, a psychologist and head of the mental health plan at the Intercultural Hospital of Maquehue, who died on Tuesday in an attempt to ambush a forestry truck near Nueva Imperial. On Thursday, the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM) claimed Quinchanao as one of its "best fighters" and acknowledged that he was participating in sabotage against forestry trucks.

"Case must be thoroughly investigated"

Neftalí Carabantes, former undersecretary of Carabineros during the government of former President Ricardo Lagos and current director of the Center for Security Studies at Universidad Central, considers that "we are facing an event of the utmost seriousness that must be thoroughly investigated by the Public Prosecutor's Office."

Carabantes warns that "the presence of professionals, linked to groups that exercise violence, in state services, NGOs, or private institutions, through health centers or educational establishments, may be due to an infiltration strategy to permeate them."

Similarly, he states that "the use of these positions, salaries, and social and institutional validation can also be a support to finance, provide logistical support, or cover up activities that are carried out clandestinely and that are carried out by the organization to which he belonged."

"They feel there would be no contradiction"

The former authority considers that "it is very likely that certain professionals of Mapuche origin feel that there would be no contradiction between having a job in a public service, such as an intercultural hospital, which would be a path for personal development, and being part of the CAM, since they would share both their demands and their political diagnosis." In that direction, Carabantes emphasizes that "for a member of the CAM, conflicts and demands are not resolved through public policies but through autonomy and the armed path."

Source:El Mercurio