translated from Spanish: The Sofofa’s criticism for not applying anti-barricate law: “You have to be consistent”

“It’s a complicated role, you have to put yourself in the shoes of the one who has the guitar on to face a complex crisis, therefore, first empathize,” sophofa President Bernardo Larraín Matte said as he tackled the trucker’s stoppage that ended yesterday after a week.” The cause raised by truckers is legitimate and necessary, more than 500 trucks have been subjected to incendiary attacks and (…) state indolence has been noticeable for years, so the cause is shared. I do not share coercion, I do not share illegal blockade, they are not valid mechanisms in democracy. (It was a) challenge to solve the problem and on the other hand avoid this illegitimate coercion,” he said on Radio Universe.” Fortunately it was agreed, the agreement was a little more delayed from the account, but I hope it doesn’t happen again.” The leader of the Sofofa noted that “my solidarity with the 100% cause, the illegal blockade, we deeply distance ourselves from it.” Asked if the government was weak in the face of road blockade, Larraín said, “I don’t want to pour any more water on that mill, the government faces (the scenario) which is the most complex that is balancing a lot of situations, objectives and finally the problem was solved, I stay with that.” Faced with the feeling left by the episode about the fact that governments face these situations with different flexibility based on affinity with stakeholders, Larraín replied that “I share that concern. For example, an anti-viral law was recently passed that could have been applied in this case and was not implemented. Often the solution to problems is to legislate, there are 13 bills related to violence that have not advanced, but also in applying the laws they have. I believe that the legal instruments are, they need to be refined, they are not enough, but an anti-french law had already been passed which could have been passed, but I think we need to be consistent. As much as one has empathy for the cause and goes to have it, (…) one must always be very consistent in applying the legal instruments available to the State of Chile to avoid coercion, to avoid blocking, to avoid the illegitimate way of making views seen.” If not later what face we are going to criticize for another cause, which we may be distant from, well we strongly demand that the legal framework be applied,” he added. “I understand that this legal instrument could have been used, I stress that not only is it important to move forward with the adoption of new laws, but to use existing ones and one of those is the one I just mentioned (anti-barricates).”

Original source in Spanish