The Civic Radical Union (UCR), under its new leadership of Leonel Chiarella, proposes incorporating the figure of ecocide into the Penal Code through a reform that includes environmental crimes and allows for criminal penalties for those responsible for intentional forest fires. In the context of the environmental disaster caused by wildfires in the mountainous region of Chubut province, the century-old party launched a solidarity fundraising campaign for the Federation of Volunteer Firefighters of that province. The initiative began last week on social media and has already raised over 7 million pesos, the UCR reported in a press release accessed by the Argentine News Agency. In this context, the radicals denounced the under-execution of the National Fire Management Plan by the Executive Branch. According to their warning, the execution of funds barely covered 25% of the budgeted allocations: approximately 20 billion pesos were left unused to strengthen the national system and provincial jurisdictions.
The UCR's position requested the national Executive Branch to inform "precisely and transparently what the guidelines and scope of its environmental policy are, and to urgently evaluate the expansion of the allocations destined for the National Fire Management Fund, to guarantee sufficient resources for the prevention, combat, and mitigation of forest fires." "Finally, the radicalism expressed its solidarity with the people of the Province of Chubut for the impacts of the forest fires and its recognition to the work of brigade members, firefighters, and volunteers who are fighting the fires in Patagonia," the radicals concluded in the press release.
