Plaintiff attorney accuses deputy Musante of “torpedoing” case against Santa Marta landfill | Special

Lawyer, Mauricio Pagueguywho represents more than 300 victims in the cases that began due to the fire at the Santa Marta landfill, accused that the current deputy, Camila Musante Müllerhas dedicated itself to torpedoing the process.

As a consequence of the fire registered in January 2016, and after lawsuits filed by residents of Talagante and San Bernardo, the 2nd Environmental Court of Santiago ruled against the Santa Marta Consortium, confirming that there was environmental damage. Judgment that was ratified by the Supreme Court.

However, the victims have had to request -by executive means- compliance with the judicial resolution.

In parallel, the Public Ministry is carrying out criminal investigations against the company’s board, with the president of the firm and two senior managers formalized by the situation.

In dialogue with the BioBioChile Research Unit, the environmental lawyer criticized Musante’s actions. This, after – as reported by this media – the independent congresswoman announced her sponsorship of a new legal action against the consortium.

The professional assured that despite giving up the only sponsorship he had in the cause three days before taking office as a parliamentarian, he continues to interfere in the environmental process now communicationally.

“One thing is that it does not do it from a judicial point of view, formally, but it is doing it from the Chamber and it is even citing the environmental authorities for a series of pronouncements that, moreover, contradict what the ruling ordered,” explains the lawyer.

Paguéguy affirms the deputy tries and tried to get political gains with his announcement, also adding that from his current position he is pressuring institutions that, by decision of the justice system, should not necessarily intervene at this time.

“The ruling of the civil trial ordered things that left the Superintendence of the Environment in charge exclusively and not the Environmental Evaluation Service (…) today we have a deputy who basically wants or intends to act contrary to what is ordered by the courts themselves, with respect to a trial that has not participated”, emphasizes the professional.

Her statements, comments Paguéguy, are part of a request made by her representatives so that she “make the clarification that the deputy does not represent more than one person.”

Thus, he indicated that “the deputy saw here a possibility of getting involved in her previous campaign… it did not work out for her and today she believes that with this she will achieve adhesion. What she does not know is that as a deputy she is prohibited: Article 60 of the Constitution is clear and she states that ‘deputies are prohibited from participating in any kind of trial’”.

Along these lines, she maintained that “what she is doing is taking advantage of neither more nor less than what she estimates or believes to be a political flow associated with capturing adhesions (…) Here we are talking about the ecosystem, damage and contamination to the courses of water, we are talking about a delicate situation. This is not a prank.”

“She did not respect anything, she was always torpedoing and bombing the work of all the litigants. Of the 300 people we represent, ”she sentenced.

Deputy defends herself

When consulted in this regard, the deputy issued a statement in which she indicates that they decided to sponsor the lawsuit at the direct request of the affected community who contacted her through a local leader named Andrés Zöllner.

“(…) In the words of the community, (they contacted her) product of the mistrust generated by the practices of some lawyers in the area, many of which usually make agreements with private companies to obtain private benefits, neglecting their commitment to the victims. In fact, for reasons unknown to the community to this day, the deadlines to request compliance with the sentence in this case were allowed to pass,” the parliamentarian remarks.

Along the same lines, she emphasized that she will not hesitate “not for a second when exercising my oversight and citizen representation powers to protect the affected communities of my district, whoever it hurts, because I was popularly elected for that.” .

At the end, he pointed out that “a waste management model is urgent that guarantees the care and protection of our environment and of those who inhabit it above any individual interest. The postponement of a complete, just and sustainable solution should not be paid for by the community. For this reason, we demand justice and environmental reparation, now.”