The mayor of Las Condes, Catalina San Martín, criticized Metropolitan Region Governor Claudio Orrego. According to San Martín, Orrego did not attend Sunday's meeting of the regional Disaster Risk Management Committee (Cogrid), which was convened after the mudslide that hit the San Carlos de Apoquindo area last Thursday.
According to BioBioChile, the mayor raised her objections in an interview with T13 Radio. She said she saw a representative of the Metropolitan Regional Government at the meeting, but not the governor, and asked where he was.
"When regional Cogrid meetings are held, my understanding is that the governor's office also attends those regional Cogrid meetings. And we have not seen the governor," she said. According to Emol, San Martín added that all organizations must be available during emergencies of this kind.
The mayor also recalled what happened in the summer. Early this year, another mudslide damaged more than 20 homes in Las Condes. That incident came shortly after a fire that burned around 1,000 hectares and was brought under control in the first days of January. "He wasn't there in the summer either," San Martín said.
The mayor acknowledged that Orrego attended an initial Cogrid meeting on Thursday at the 15th Fire Company. However, she qualified that statement: "I think he made a video outside the venue, but after that I had nothing."
The accounts of the governor's whereabouts differ. According to Emol, San Martín was told that Orrego was outside the country on an official assignment. By contrast, the Santiago Government told La Tercera that he was in Atacama between Friday and Saturday. There, he joined that region's governor, Miguel Vargas, in an event called "Exchange of good practices in community engagement."
The governor's office said Orrego had committed to attending that event before the emergency. It also stressed that the governor arrived in the area on Thursday itself, among the first authorities to do so. According to the same account, he canceled his vacation, which was scheduled to begin this Tuesday, to monitor the aftermath of the mudslide.
Regarding Cogrid, the governor's office said an official from the institution usually attends. Israel Chamorro, head of the Santiago Government's legal department, attended in Orrego's place. The sources reviewed do not detail what role the Ministry of Public Works played in the emergency.
San Martín highlighted the support of the Army, firefighters and private entities such as the Costanera Norte highway, which she said was there "from minute one" with machinery to clear the streets. She also thanked the Presidential Delegation, the Ministry of the Interior and other municipalities.
"I'm not going to worry about those who aren't here; I'm going to work with the people who are here," the mayor concluded.
