Says candidate Frei’s failure to listen to local citizens will cost him votes

Dep. René Alinco, the recently re-elected national deputy from the southern Chile district of Aysen, said this week that regional support for the center-left Concertación presidential candidate Eduardo Frei is flagging because the Concertación has insisted on supporting the HidroAysen dam project in far southern Chile, notwithstanding strong citizen opposition.

 

“All the irregularities that have characterized HidroAysen’s approval process reflect poorly on the government and seriously impact Frei’s possibilities in this region,” said Alinco.

The most blatant irregularity, said Alinco, was Regional Governor Selim Carrasco’s decision early last year to override regional agencies and citizen groups and push the HidroAysen project forward.

 

Maverick presidential contender Marco Enriquez-Ominami – a strong HidroAysen opponent who polled 20 percent in Chile’s first presidential vote in December – said HidroAysen could be defeated only if regional governors were elected to office.  Currently, regional governors are appointed by the President and respond to Santiago’s interests and political concerns, not regional interests. Enriquez-Ominami’s promise to decentralize political has strong regional appeal, especially for environmentalists.

“If we really want to defeat the political right in the January 17 run-off election (between Frei and rightist billionaire Sebastian Pinera),” said Alinco, “we must be ready to give citizens real guarantees that things will be done right and that our institutions will be respected and not be run roughshod by the authorities, as seems to have been the case with Regional Governor Carrasco’s behavior.”

The deputy then charged that Carrasco used questionable tactics in pushing HidroAysen through the regional review process, “no doubt thinking that someday he will have a juicy job as an attorney with some business that makes its living off of HidroAysen.”

“The center-left Concertacion coalition has made many advances, especially when it comes to helping the disposed,” continued Alinco. “But if the political coalition wishes to remain in power … we have to really change the way we behave and begin listening to what the people are telling us. And one of the most important changes that we must make is to do things well, with citizens fully informed; to not let our decisions be based on personal gain, but only on what is best for the community.”

SOURCE: Press release from www.aisenreservadevida.cl
By Steve Anderson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )