Saturday 20 August 2022 | 17:54
President Alberto Fernández assured this Saturday that the national government will not “remain passive” in the face of the fires affecting the islands of the Paraná river delta and noted that “immediate action by the armed forces” was ordered to stop the fire, provide assistance and collaboration in particular in the metropolitan area of Rosario.
“We cannot tolerate that in the Delta there continue to be fires affecting the environment and the health of millions of Argentine men and women. We will not remain passive in the face of disqualifying actions that generate ecological disasters “, wrote the president on his Twitter account along with some photographs of the catastrophe and the operations in progress.
We cannot tolerate that fires in the Delta continue to affect the environment and the health of millions of Argentine men and women.
We will not remain passive in the face of disqualifying actions that generate ecological disasters. pic.twitter.com/UMdFJmCPQX
– Alberto Fernández (@alferdez) August 20, 2022
In this context, Fernández ratified that “the immediate action of the Armed Forces was ordered to stop the fires” and that “the Joint Command of the Emergency Zone of Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and north of Buenos Aires” was activated.
“The Secretariat for Military Emergency Coordination and a team of military advisors are already in place to assess the situation and organize support tasks. Three Buey II helicopters, 1,600 brigade members, Naval Naval Support Unit of the Navy, Amphibious Engineers Battalion 121, Engineers Battalion 1, Engineers Battalion 2 of Concepción del Uruguay, Company of Engineers and Group of Engineers 601 “, has underlined.
Furthermore, he stressed that the Ministry of the National Environment has already presented “the related complaints and is collaborating with the Justice to determine the responsibilities”.
“The state must be present to protect Argentine men and women”, concluded Fernández.
Defense Minister Jorge Taiana and the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Martín Paleo, activated the joint command of the emergency zone of Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and north of Buenos Aires on Friday. of fires. in those areas.
The governor of Santa Fe, Omar Perotti, had previously asked President Fernández for the urgent intervention of the Armed Forces because the numerous operations deployed to respond to the emergency caused by the advance of the flames had been insufficient to obtain an absolute mitigation of the fires . fires.