MONDAY, 23 JANUARY 2012 17:41
WRITTEN BY NICK LAVARS
Interior Minister blames lack of context after criticism of public statements regarding fires in the south.
Chile’s Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter pointed to a matter of misinterpretation as to why his statements apparently lay blame with indigeneous groups.
Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter. Photo Courtesy of Gobierno de Chile
After being given a 48-hour deadline, Hinzpeter produced a report to the Court of Appeals on Friday. It consisted of six pages, containing press releases with recorded statements from the minister.
“The facts that I am accused with are imprecise. Many passages were an inaccurate and incomplete transcript of my statements.” Hinzpeter said on Radio Universidad de Chile. “Any important statement of responsibility to people does not violate the principal of innocence or threaten personal freedom.”
An appeal was made following public statements made by Hinzpeter in early January. Seemingly, it was in response to a government initiative to invoke the controversial Anti-Terrorist Law for those responsible for the fires.
The appeal called for Hinzpeter to clarify which police procedures where being used, which communities were under investiagtion and under what pretense.
Hinzpeter’s report failed to respond to these requests, instead focusing on the misrepresentation of his words and the resultant misunderstanding of the government’s intentions.
Although the request to apply the Anti-Terrorist Law was filed by the government, the Court insisted, “it is not up to the minister to identify who is punishable, in our country it is up to the courts of justice to establish criminal liability,” according to Radio Universidad de Chile.
The appeal was filed by attorney Juan Loncon and former director of the Ministry of Social Development (Conadi), Domingo Namancura, accusing the minister of discrimination and persecution against the Mapuche people.
“I hope that I am clear, I have not ordered or requested a investigation in such a nature against Mapuche communities, nor have I filed lawsuits against them,” Hinzpeter said.
Source: The Santiago Times