In one of the most serious attacks that occurred in the Araucanía area, Chile, a sergeant and two police corporals were murdered and burned inside their vehicle. The victims were ambushed in the early hours of this Saturday (local time).
The terrorist act, as described by President Gabriel Boric, has shaken the country and therefore, the authority decreed three days of national mourning. And in the province where the events occurred, Arauco, a curfew was established in three communes.
The uniformed police officersThey responded to a false emergency call and were ambushed in the so-called red zone in the south of the country, which has been under the state of emergency regime for more than three years, which allows the Armed Forces to collaborate in the control of attacks carried out in the name of the Mapuche cause.
The three police officers, members of a police station in the town of Los Álamos, were shot with shotguns and rifles and then burned in the armored vehicle in which they were traveling. The perpetrators escaped after stealing their service weapons and video cameras that they were carrying.
Anniversary in mourning
The new three martyrs of the institution They died on the same day that Carabineros celebrates a new anniversary (97°) and after the event, the ceremony organized in Santiago and which the president would attend was suspended, because both Boric and the General Director of the Carabineros, General Ricardo Yáñez, moved to the area where the events occurred.
“There are no fissures, we are a single force of the State of Chile and Chilean society against these criminals, against these terrorists, against those who have committed this brutal murder that mourns the entire country,” said the president while ensuring that He will not rest until the culprits are found.
The murdered police officers have been identified as First Sergeant Carlos Cisterna Navarro (43 years old) and First Corporal Sergio Arévalo Lobos (34) and Misael Vidal Cid (30). The first reports indicate that once they were murdered, their bodies were piled in the back of the truck and, after pouring fuel on them, they were set on fire.
This attack takes place at a time when General Yáñez is about to leave his position because at the beginning of May he will be formalized for his command responsibility in the cases of human rights violations during the outbreak of October 2019, the date on which the head of Order and Security of the institution.
In this regard, the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, in charge of security, indicated that, after what happened, the general’s permanence could be reviewed. “This is not a time to weaken or move key figures”said.
Visibly shocked, already in Los Álamos, a town that woke up covered in black balloons, the president assured that “as president of the Republic I do not rule out any of the legal tools that are at our disposal. We are going to make decisions accordingly, with a cool head, with the information given to us by the police together, and working in a coordinated manner with all the powers of the State. Today in Chile there is heartbreak, there is sadness, there is anger. We also have it and we know that the institution of Carabineros and, particularly the families of those who have been brutally murdered, have immeasurable pain.
Boric also stated that “our role as authorities is to lead and deliver results, not to act with a hot head, and in this We are all necessary, by the way, so is General Yáñez».
The murder has had such an impact on the country that throughout Chile Tributes have been paid to the three carabineros and even in some cities there have been marches asking for more support for the police.
Meanwhile, the regional prosecutor’s office, led by Marcela Cartagena, has begun investigations to find those responsible with “extreme diligence and reserve,” as noted.
All political sectors condemned this murder and once again voices were raised demanding that Yáñez remain in office.
