Is Valparaíso’s Wildfire Result of Neglect by Municipal Government? · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Photo of wildfire in Valparaíso by Flickr user Leonardo Maldonado, under license to CC Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0).
A report [es] from Chile's Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIPER) has stirred up a story of neglect and corruption about how, since 2012, local authorities have been aware of the danger posed by the extensive growth of underbrush in the hills and ravines around Valparaíso as well as the proliferation of garbage dumps in these same areas —all of which contribute to a situation ripe for wildfires. But not even the blazes that ignited in 2013 provoked a reaction from local government. So now, the search for those responsible has begun.
In the midst of the ravages left by the massive wildfire in Valparaiso, a new inquiry commission will be appointed by the Chamber of Deputies in the coming week. The goal: to determine the amounts and those responsible for this latest corruption scandal in the city's administration […]. The investigation of this new regional scandal, which has once again focused its attention on another million dollars allegedly diverted to political campaigns, may turn out to be the one that paints the clearest picture of the extent to which corruption is entrenched in regional government and from which not a single party has escaped.