The Army general also stated that he feels supported by the political authorities
By
Cristián Torresfrom Santiago, Chile< /i>
General Edward Slater. Image: Ejército.cl
A high-ranking military official sent a direct message to the antisocial and radical Mapuche groups that operate in the southern macro-zone of Chile, stating that these “we are not to scare” after the latest acts of violence in the country.
This was stated by General Edward Slater, Head of National Defense for the State of Exception in the region of La Araucanía, who warned the attackers to “avoid following this radical line” adopted in southern Chile. “Do you want fear, do you want to produce terror? The military are not going to scare us, so what do they want?”, said Slater.
The general’s words SlaterThey were issued after a group of unknown individuals attacked and burned a truck in the Lautaro and Vilcún sector, in the southern Chilean macrozone. The subjects left a sign demanding the departure of the military who have been in this place since President Gabriel Boric invoked the State of Exception and the deployment of the Army.
“These people think they are going to gain supporters for the cause by doing that, none. They are going the wrong way,” said Slater after the arson attack in the red zone of La Araucanía.
Faced with questions from a group of parliamentarians about the “restrictedness” of the State of Exception in the southern macrozone, the general supported the central authorities, declaring that “the political support is (…) We have received the support of the direct authorities who work in the region.”
Regarding the death of Segundo Catril at the hands of an armed group on his way to work, The general commented that “I don’t know what these people intend by carrying out this act of terror, of death, of destruction, and causing death even more to peaceful people, of their own ethnic group, that the only function they had was to move on a logging road from one point to another to go to work.”
General Edward Slater is a high-ranking Chilean Army official and military leader. According to the Center for Journalistic Investigation (Ciper), Slater is part of a select martial group that has traveled to study at prestigious universitiesfrom abroad financed by the Luksic Group, one of the most powerful families in the country. In 2017 he went to Harvard and participated in the Senior Executives in National and International Security course between August 13 and 25, 2017.
Two arrested for ammunition trafficking
In the last few hours, at least two Carabineros were arrested in the region of La Araucanía for being involved in a possible diversion of war ammunition.The Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Izkia Siches, held a press point with part of the high command of the police to state that “it is a very serious situation, there are internal investigation procedures that are already underway , but I want to be very clear that none of these cases tarnish the Carabineros institution.”
The complaint was filed by the Western Prosecutor’s Office after it reported an investigation against two Carabineros who would eventually be involved in the trafficking of ammunition of war from La Araucanía. The case originated in 2021 when the Chilexpress parcel service discovered a package with ammunition that would be the property of the police.
The parcel It had 65 cartridges of a caliber 5.56×45 millimeters branded inside it, and they were sent from the city of Temuco, in La Araucanía, to Cochrane, located in the Aysén region, 2,219 kilometers south of Santiago.