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Long before the first case of COVID-19 in Chile was confirmed, in early March, the mayor of Las Condes, Joaquín Lavín, was faced with its own party, the UDI. Those were days when the mayor had indicated in some interviews his interest in being given space on the television strip, despite the fact that, unlike unionism, he was “approved” in the face of the constitutional plebiscite.
But the pandemic came and those partisan disputes dissipated, although not Lavín’s role regarding the measures to be taken to face the expansion of the Covid-19. The decisions he has made in recent weeks opened up a focus of criticism yesterday in the opposition, after yesterday the deputy front-wing Gabriel Boric accused a “show in the reopening of the Apumanque de Lavín”.
The mayor, in effect, defended the execution of a pilot plan to gradually reopen the shopping center at the end of April, on days when the concept of the “new normality” was installed from La Moneda. Yesterday, meanwhile, he asked that the quarantine be decreed again in the eastern sector of the capital – which already had one for two weeks during March – due to the outbreak of infections. .
“The eastern sector is experiencing what is called the second wave, that indeed we were the first, the virus started in the eastern sector for travel and we were the first to go to quarantine, which lasted 3 weeks, the virus fell a lot and we were 3 or 4 weeks quite low, but, the first days of May this began to increase sharply and we are in the middle of the second wave, a rebound … I think that the eastern sector should go to quarantine, “he said on Channel 13. Meanwhile, today, in Mega’s morning he said: “Many mayors ask for total quarantine.”
On several occasions, he had to give explanations yesterday for the “curve” in his definitions.
“There was no opening of the Apumanque ”, said the mayor yesterday on Channel 13, defending himself that the day after the reopening, he himself reversed the measure and closed the mall.
Later, and in conversation with Chilevisión, Lavín went further, pointing to the speech that was being made by the government. “What happens is that we want to help SMEs and the Apumanque is full of SMEs. We made a pilot plan, but I realized that the plateau that was talked about was no longer such. Therefore, the decision to open was impossible, ”he said.
Then he added that “We have all learned. Here there are successes and errors. I wanted to help financially and I understand that health must be prioritized. I think it was a strong signal for the rest of the malls to make the decision not to open. “
Consulted by La Tercera PM, several of Las Condes councilors defended the measure of trying to reopen the Apumanque at the time. However, they clarified that the decision was made by Lavín and was not consulted in the council.
“We found this when it was already cooked, that was not discussed with the councilors. It was a mistake to open it, it looked bad, but the good thing is that the reopening was not finally followed up. There were lines to enter that day, it was not to be believed “, said the councilor Cristián Velasco.
“The criticism against Lavín seems unfair to me. El Apumanque are small SMEs and they pushed hard to open. It was done very prudently. This responded to a strategy of getting suspicious, of trial and error, “he said. Julius Dittborn, councilor of Las Condes.
“The mayor informed us on May 1, through a WhatsApp message, that since there had been an increase in cases, it was counterproductive to reopen Apumanque. The mall wanted to open to help hundreds of merchants who had been having a hard time since October, they wanted to give them a hand, “added the councilor. Martita Fresno.
Other measures taken by the mayor of Las Condes have also had an impact. At the beginning of the health crisis and when a preventive quarantine was decreed in March in that commune – where several positive cases of coronavirus had been reported – Lavín called for the measure to be respected and for that he announced the use of “Drones, the speakers of the smart posts that are in the squares, the citizen security cars” by the municipality.
Meanwhile, in early April, and when the Minsal reported 373 cases infected with coronavirus, the mayor of Las Condes announced the implementation of “sanitary tunnels” in the commune he directs. However, at the end of that month, he had to go out and explain if they were still using them in Las Condes after the Health Minister, Jaime Mañalich, criticized them and Undersecretary Daza signed an ordinance stating that the tunnels were used to “Surfaces and not for people”.
“I voted against that purchase and that the sanitary tunnels were implemented because I looked for information and there was nothing concrete that proved that it was a good measure,” said the councilor of Las Condes, Carlos Larraín.
The doctor of the School of Medicine of the Catholic University, Juan Carlos Rios, pointed out to the Third PM that “both the WHO and the Pan American Health Organization pointed out that these structures should not be used in people. These substances in the tunnels can cause health damage because they are applied to the face, eyes and can cause serious injuries, respiratory problems and may end up causing those people to have to go to an emergency service. ”
Despite the health warning, consulted by La Tercera PM councilors and officials from the municipality of Las Condes confirmed that these tunnels continue to be used in certain places in the commune.
How much would these definitions affect the possible aspirations and presidential possibilities of Lavín? For Cristián Valdivieso, director of Criteria Research, the mayor of Las Condes is paying the consequences of a media overexposure.
“Lavín, despite being the preferred child of the media, has been somewhat overexposed on the subject of the pandemic. So many things are happening, and how things are changing, that it is easy to enter a kind of contradiction, “said Valdivieso.
Regarding the reopening of the Apumanque, he points out that “the staging that took place there was something very risky, much anticipated.” “It was something that casts doubt on how responsible he was, we are not talking about a ski slope, but something that can put people’s health at risk,” he added.
In this sense, Valdivieso pointed out that “that is why in the last surveys we can see the mayor Germán Codina better evaluated than Lavín, Codina appears from a more serious, responsible look. People are now looking for responsibility rather than risk or staging. “
For his part, the political scientist Kenneth Bunker, points out that the Apumanque may have costs in its citizen assessment. “There are already indications that something has fallen in popularity as today’s Activa poll. It is likely that his misstep also has more important costs, considering that his high level of knowledge and media exposure.
Bunker adds that the mayor of Las Condes “acted well in the first phase of the pandemic, providing information, and being available”, but the initial good results betrayed him when he was overly confident and proposed to start reopening. It was a mistake”.
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