The Mayor of Galicia – one of Spain’s autonomous regions – has hit out at Portugal over wildfires that have now straddled the border, causing three deaths in Pontevedra.
Says Spanish newspaper El Pais, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo considers Portugal responsible for the tragedy, citing arsonists, “bad weather” and fires that have crossed into Galician territory.
The gist of Feijóo’s commentary is that Portugal cannot control its fires, while “the activity of arsonists is tremendous, very intense”.
But here, the whole arsonist theory is being queried. How could almost 500 arsonists decide independently to set fires on one particular day? This is the big question lobbed into the ongoing drama by firefighters league boss Jaime Marta Soares, who suggests instead that “a terrorist organisation” is behind the devastating scenario.
Jaime Marta Soares is no stranger to plain speaking. He has been scathing of what he calls the “incomplete” independent report on the killer fires of Pedrógão Grande where 64 people died in the space of a few hours.
And his latest comments will simply inflame growing suspicion that ‘news briefings’ are not always the full story.
As to the type of terrorist organisation, Marta Soares said he believes it is “controlling and studying strategic points to originate large fires with the objective of creating political instability in our country”.
He maintains that “politicians responsible for this country” should be reflecting on “what should have been done, and what they did not do” while martialing more means of combat into all the affected areas.
Meantime, anger in Galicia has seen crowds of people take to the streets to denounce “fire-raising terrorism” and to demand the resignations of various people at the helm of authorities’ response.
The number of deaths in Galicia has now risen to four, reports Diário de Notícias.
