Gonzalo Durán, former delegado presidencial (the President's appointed representative) of the Región Metropolitana (the Santiago Metropolitan Region), said there is "a leadership problem" in the Government. He made the remark after conflicting statements from the current delegate, Germán Codina, and the metropolitan governor, Claudio Orrego, about buying weather radars to anticipate climate events in the capital.
According to CNN Chile, Durán, who served as delegate under former President Gabriel Boric, said on T13 that "there is a clear problem of plans to face the country's challenges, there is a leadership problem, there is a governability problem."
The debate began when Codina said on Radio Universo that he had spoken with Orrego about allocating 2% of the Gobierno Regional (Regional Government) budget to buy radars. Media outlets differ on where those funds come from. CNN Chile says it is the 2% set out in the Ley de Presupuestos (Chile's annual Budget Law) for 2027. T13 and ADN Radio say it is the percentage released by President José Antonio Kast in mid-July, during the storms that hit the north and south of the country.
Codina also gave a figure. "We could have to use around 3,500 million pesos for the acquisition of the radars and also for a forest fire mitigation plan," he said, with the goal of applying urgent measures.
Orrego replied that the Regional Government has "the budget committed this year," though he said he was open to studying the proposal. According to CNN Chile, he added that they will contact the Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (Chile's national weather service) to check whether the radars are available and can be bought, "because Santiago has to be better prepared."
The governor also criticized cuts to the budget of the Servicio Nacional de Prevención y Respuesta ante Desastres (Senapred), the national disaster prevention and response agency, calling them "contradictory" given the emergencies. "I ask the Government for consistency. Let's put our money where our mouth is," he said.
Durán warned that the country will more often face intense rainfall in short periods, high temperatures and heat waves, so "a state policy is required and investment is required." He also questioned why the debate is concentrated on the capital: "it seems that when things happen in the Región Metropolitana, we care about the phenomenon."
The former delegate noted that there were also emergencies in the Biobío Region and in the north. For that reason, he concluded, the national government must consolidate a policy with a nationwide outlook. So far, sources have not reported any formal agreement between the Presidential Delegation and the Regional Government on the purchase.
