Santiago Governor Claudio Orrego responded to Las Condes Mayor Catalina San Martín. The mayor criticized him for not attending Sunday's regional Disaster Risk Management Committee (Cogrid), the body that coordinates emergency response, as efforts were underway to address the mudslide that hit San Carlos de Apoquindo.
According to Emol, Orrego ruled out getting into a dispute. "If she wants to argue with me, she won't succeed," he said in a call to Radio 13C. He added that what matters is how to prevent this type of event.
The governor maintained that he was the first official to reach the upper part of the ravine. He explained that, when he was told the mudslide was starting and he could no longer get up there in time, he left a representative at the site. He also said he toured the flooded area, spoke with residents and coordinated aid. "I was the first official to arrive and the last to leave," he said.
On social media, Orrego recalled an earlier episode. According to him, in February, after an initial event in the same ravine, the Regional Government (GORE) offered to fund a risk assessment for Las Condes, but the municipality declined. He called this "understandable," because Las Condes' budget is more than twice what GORE has for the entire region. He added that the funding remains available.
Orrego also noted that the Santiago Government dealt with other emergencies during those days. He mentioned the evacuation of an informal settlement in Talagante and the dispatch of machinery to Cajón del Maipo, where route G-25 was blocked.
San Martín's account is very different. In an interview with La Tercera's program Desde la Redacción, the mayor said that there has been no coordination with the Regional Government during the emergency. She criticized the governor's social media videos showing him "knee-deep in mud" and said she did not know whom he had rescued.
According to the mayor, what she needed from GORE was help coordinating resources and machinery with other municipalities. She explained that she ended up doing that directly with other municipalities and with support from the Ministry of the Interior. "If you're not going to be there, don't get in the way," she declared. She said she received no calls from Orrego, although she acknowledged that he might have tried to contact her amid the many messages she received.
The exchange exposes a tension over roles. The elected governor heads GORE and oversees its regional budget. Emergency coordination falls to Cogrid, chaired by the presidential delegate. The municipality, meanwhile, manages the response on the ground.
Orrego ended on a conciliatory note. He said the mayor "has had a hard time" and described the mudslide as the worst event in Las Condes' history.
San Martín, for her part, addressed the recovery timeline. Public Works Minister Luis de Grange warned that some homes could take years to recover. The mayor responded that the municipality will not take years to clean the houses and will devote all available resources to making them habitable again, although she acknowledged that replacing lost belongings will take longer.
