In an interview with the newspaper El Día, the mayor of Coquimbo, Ali Manouchehri, assured that in 20 more years he saw his commune as the best in Chile.
This is in the context of the fact that his administration is just ending its “first term”, so if he is re-elected in the municipal elections in October, he will continue along the path that, until now, has marked his administration: promoting important initiatives that benefit all the residents of the commune.
– Where are you now? Are you thinking about your re-election, the development of the commune or finding more time for your family?
“(Pauses and takes a deep breath) From the day I took on the challenge of being mayor, I set out to improve the quality of life of the neighbors, and today we continue with the same strength, the same intensity, the same sacrifice.” , the same vision that we are moving forward. If we look at it from a football perspective, we are finishing the first half.”
-How do you imagine the commune of Coquimbo in 20 more years?
“Like the best commune in Chile.”
-Are you thinking about any mega-projects for your eventual second term or will your objective continue to be the well-being of its inhabitants?
“I believe that beyond the bombastic works, which have often been the qualifiers of the mayors, one of the great challenges is to make every inhabitant of the commune of Coquimbo increase their levels of well-being and happiness. That has been something very important and challenging for us, and we have started it since we entered the municipality, with things that for some may be small, but that add a smile to the faces of many Coquimbanos.”
-And what do you hope to be your legacy as mayor?
“First of all, Coquimbo should be positioned as the best city in the north of Chile and, why not say it, try to position Coquimbo as one of the cities where people are happiest. We think that we are doing a job where the citizens have recognized the effort and sacrifice. The closeness to the citizens, but also with 100 percent clean hands. The history of our commune deserves to have a mayor who is not questioned for any irregularity and mainly who is a guardian of public resources and does not take them home.”
-How would you rate your relationship with the city council?
“We have stated from the beginning that we work for Coquimbo and its people, that all those who have this vision that we are elected by the citizens to represent them and improve their lives, of course, are always invited to this table. When we come across bad intentions, with a more political or electoral view, of course, we do not want those people sitting with us. But today we are in a relationship that has changed, where some people who did not believe in our management do today, but we do not generalize in a council where seven of the councilors support my management and three have been in opposition since day one.”
-Are you satisfied with the plan for the recovery of squares and public spaces that you are carrying out or would you like to speed it up?
“I have divided the work we have done regarding public spaces into two. First of all, recover the public space that has been taken over, both by informal commerce and by any type of crime. And second, transform them and return them to the people in the appropriate way and in that work I think we have been successful.”
-What important projects are coming for the commune?
“Today we are working on a plan that will end up positioning the center of Coquimbo as one of the most important in our country. With restoration, beautification, and infrastructure works that will allow people to enjoy public spaces in a safe, friendly manner, to meet the challenge of making the city center belong to the residents again.”
-What keeps you up at night the most? Public safety, drug trafficking or common crime?
“Today it is difficult to determine what affects people the most, but I believe that they all have a mechanism that interacts, since drug trafficking also generates fear in neighborhoods and is associated with different distributors. When we talk about violence around any crime, it is a concern that we have taken from day one, seeking to make spaces safer, and in this battle against crime we have sought to be a collaborator with institutions such as Carabineros de Chile, the Police of Investigations and the Navy on our coastline.”
-There have been some criminal acts in the El Sauce area, which residents attribute to the lack of street lighting. Do you have any planned measures to resolve this situation?
“We took this measure several years ago when we started paying companies that were owed money, when we set aside a historic budget to repair the lights and when we have already repaired more than 11 thousand lights. This gives an important signal that the municipality has the resources and the inputs to be able to execute a lighting plan and is executing it.”
–Is it effective, as Councilor Guido Hernández said, that the resources for lighting fixtures decreased by 800 million pesos in the last budget adjustment?
“The councillor has to do the homework of reading a little about the budgets in relation to each of its items. We did not reduce the budget that is already in public tender to buy all the necessary supplies to continue with the lighting plan for Coquimbo. What we did was remove from an item a budget that we had to outsource due to the bureaucracy that exists in that initiative and that we intend to execute next year, if we continue to lead the municipality.”
-Politically you have said that you are independent, but are you independent from the left or independent from the right?
“I have a beautiful family heritage. My family belongs to a very important political sector, where I was raised with the principles and values that this sector has, without ignoring that my independence allows me to dialogue, sit down, talk and execute a plan, taking positive things from both sectors. But I am still a person with a leftist background.”
-How do you view the situation of the regional governor, Krist Naranjo, after her suspension from office was confirmed by the Supreme Court?
“Beyond the governor’s personal situation, I am concerned about the situation facing the region, with a situation that has been extended too far and where the priority for a long time has not been projects to benefit the citizens, but rather the processes that the governor has had and her relationship with the councilors. Today, citizens demand that we politicians worry about the problems of the people and not about those that each politician may have individually.”
