The Undersecretary for the Armed Forces, Galo Eidelstein Silber, arrived this afternoon at the Arica Army Garrison, in order to head the crisis committee that was established last Saturday, after the death of conscript soldier Franco Vargas Vargas, then of an instruction march of soldiers assigned to the Compulsory Military Service, at 4 thousand meters above sea level between the towns of Pacollo and Putre, in addition to the internment of 4 soldiers from the same Motorized Brigade “Huamachuco” in Arica and Santiago, with severe respiratory and digestive symptoms, two of which are on mechanical ventilation due to the aggressive action of 2 bacteria.
Faced with this serious situation, the undersecretary said that “we are going to go to the end, because transparency and clarity towards citizens are very important, because they are conscripts who, the vast majority, are doing their service to the country. Therefore, it is very important that the Government and other State institutions support the work that these conscripts are doing.”
Regarding the measures that are in progress, he confirmed the beginning of an administrative summary to determine responsibilities in the command and the instructors regarding the death of the conscript and another summary on the cause of his death due to an act of service, a situation that He stated “it is very important for certain benefits that I could receive.” Likewise, he pointed out that the Army referred the information to the Military Prosecutor’s Office to begin the investigation into these events.
Eidelstein indicated that due to problems that have arisen in Compulsory Military Service throughout its history, changes have occurred and that, precisely, “when what happened on this occasion is analyzed, it is likely that there will be some type of changes.” ”.
The undersecretary led an evaluation day of the Crisis Committee together with the Regional Presidential Delegate, Ricardo Sanzana Oteíza, the commander in chief of the Sixth Army Division, Brigadier General, Rubén Castillo Herrera; the regional ministerial secretary of Health, Marta Saavedra García; and the deputy medical director of the Health Service Jorge Becerra Tapia; in addition to general officers stationed in the Arica and Parinacota region. At the end of the day, he stated that he did not rule out a visit to the Putre brigade.
two bacteria
The Minister of Health, Marta Saavedra confirmed that the cause of death of soldier Franco Vargas Vargas was an acute myocardial infarction and ruled out that this case is related to the 2 serious conscripts and the 41 who are in isolation.
On the other hand, the deputy medical director of the Health Service, Jorge Becerra Tapia, confirmed that since Saturday, 2 soldiers remain hospitalized with mechanical ventilation in a “critical but favorable evolution” condition, in the Intensive Care Unit of the Juan Noé Hospital.
One of them will be transferred by ambulance plane to the Military Hospital of Santiago in the next few hours, after achieving stabilization. While the second still maintains a critical condition, since he also required dialysis due to the damage to his kidneys and it is expected that tomorrow he will be able to improve, which will allow his air transportation to the capital.
In the medical report submitted, the discovery of the Escherichia coli bacteria was confirmed in one of the interned soldiers, while in the other Streptococcus pyogenes was detected, which could have been contracted through a skin wound, which caused necrosis and difficulties in mobility in one of his legs.
Isolation
The Minister of Health, Marta Saavedra, explained that there were also 41 other soldiers who had respiratory and digestive conditions from the same regiment, which is why they were transferred from Putre to Arica and their isolation was ordered in the Fontecilla barracks in this city, a condition that was will remain until complete recovery.
“They are not in isolation due to an infectious disease, they are in the process of recovering from a flu condition. Among the viruses that we have identified and that correspond to influenza and rhinovirus and that are circulating on this date. We are waiting for their flu cycle to end, they have had super good management and they would be close to finishing the 5 days of their flu state,” he stated.
The health authority confirmed that it ordered food and water sampling to determine the possible sources of the bacteria recorded in the 2 soldiers who are still in serious condition.
“It is not comparable with Antuco”
The commander in chief of the Sixth Army Division, Brigadier General Rubén Castillo, confirmed that the entire procedure surrounding the training march that cost the conscript his life, “is under evaluation.”
The military authority confirmed that the conscript soldiers who were assigned to Putre did not have special geographical altitude exams, as applied to workers in the mining sector who work in camps located over 3,000 meters high. However, he acknowledged that this procedure is carried out on plant personnel and it “should be” applied in the event that the conscripts are transferred to Putre again.
Without prejudice to this, he validated the training applied with the conscripts, stating that “all training that the Army has designed, knowing the atmospheric and altitude conditions in Putre and Pacollo, a progressive training system is organized where they are not subjected to extreme conditions initials. This occurred in the first week after a week of acclimatization. Therefore, the rigor, the magnitude of the training that at that time was basic, independent of the conditions in which it was carried out, leads us to evaluate what happened, to look for those measures that were adopted and to look for lessons learned.”
Castillo ruled out that this case is comparable to the military tragedy of Antuco, the general said that “this is not similar and it is not possible to compare it with the tragedy. First because there are other conditions that I am not going to refer to.”
He added that, for now, the first thing is to restore the health of all the conscripts before resuming training in Putre. In this regard, he said that once the health assessment of the food and water that was supplied to the Putre brigade is completed, the relevance of restarting altitude training will be evaluated. Meanwhile, he assured, the contingent of conscripts will remain in Arica carrying out their training in the different military units, until they have a medical and psychological evaluation to decide their continuity in military service.
NHRI requests reports
On the other hand, the National Institute of Human Rights reported that it notified the Chilean Army and the local Seremi de Salud to find out the details surrounding the death of conscript Francisco Vargas Vargas, which occurred last Saturday, April 27, who was carrying out the military service in the Motorized Brigade No. 24 “Huamachuco”, of the VI Army Division.
The INDH document also aims to know the health status of another 45 young people from the same military unit and those who were hospitalized in Arica and Santiago, and also whether contact with their families has been allowed. Within the request for information posed by the INDH to the Army, “it is necessary to know what measures would have been taken to avoid frostbite and the possible occurrence of respiratory conditions, taking into account that the military exercise in question would have been carried out in the highland, specifically in the commune of Putre, where the thermal oscillation is considerably high and the low temperatures, during the night, are around 0° Celsius.”
