( Spanish) – Jorge Vargas Roca, mayor of San Rafael, Bolivia, could not contain his tears during an event celebrating a national holiday. The reason? The fires, which devastated the department of Santa Cruz and led the Government of Bolivia to declare a national disaster, consumed more than 60% of the 981,000 hectares that its municipality covers.
“We are facing an event never seen before, an unprecedented ecological catastrophe within our department, our country, the national authorities say that there are 7 million hectares, but we who are in the place and who have relationships with other institutions are talking about 10 million hectares. This is a catastrophe of epic magnitude, never in our years of history have we experienced a situation as complicated and difficult as the one we are experiencing,” the mayor told this Friday.
The ferocious fires, which leave destruction in their wake, began in Bolivia in mid-June, recalled the mayor, who attributed the situation to the prolonged drought affecting the region.
“That was the situation for which we asked for help as soon as possible, because in small municipalities like mine, when resources run out, we do not have the economic or logistical capacity to deal with fires,” he commented.
The smoke has caused the air quality in Santa Cruz, capital of the department that bears the same name and where San Rafael is located, to exceed the range of “extremely bad” this Tuesday, according to the state Bolivian Information Agency. This Thursday, after rain was recorded, the air rating returned to the “good” category and in-person classes were able to resume, according to the same news agency.
Jorge Vargas Roca explained the seriousness of the situation and added that the fires continue to affect the protected areas of the region.
“That’s why it was desperation, (that’s why) those images that have gone viral internationally of a broken authority in an event that should be rejoicing, it is precisely because of my protected area that was also on fire and all that fauna, all that number of animals that was being affected by the fire,” he commented.
The mayor’s hope is that the viralization of the video that shows him crying will serve to draw attention to the serious effects of climate change.
“Climate change is a reality. It is here and we have to live together and learn to live with the erratic changes. For example, in our region, the spaces of rain that are so marked. There is the dry season and the rainy season, we have practically two seasons in the year: the rainy season and the dry season. So, the rains have been delayed and the dry season has become longer. The situation becomes much more complex.”
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