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It is not yet known with certainty if the incident was intentional, but the outrage grows among the population of the Chilean Easter Island . The reason? A tourist crashed his truck a few days ago against several moais, the famous monolithic statues carved in volcanic and sacred rock distributed by the Rapa Nui National Park, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Pedro Edmunds, mayor of the island, belonging to the Chilean region of Valparaíso , is clear that he will resume his initiative to restrict access with vehicles to the archaeological site after the vehicle is stamped against one of these 4.5-meter-high figures (Although one of them, the Mooi Paro, reaches 10 meters and weighs 85 tons). Not surprisingly, he added that the damage generated against these architectural jewels, the island's main tourist attraction , is "incalculable," according to Edmunds.

An offense to aboriginal culture

The accident occurred when a Chilean tourist crashed his vehicle against a moai "apparently intentionally", which caused some to fall, according to the national newspaper El Mercurio Camilo Rapu, president of the Mau Henua community , an agency that takes care of and the conservation of the moais, whose construction is estimated between the ninth and sixteenth centuries.

The average height of the moais is 4.5 meters.

The man was arrested at the time and charged with a crime of damage to a national monument. The Prosecutor's Office has ordered him to remain in Rapa Nui (official name of Easter Island) and appear monthly at a police station. For its part, the regional secretary of the Ministry of National Assets of the Latin American country, Rosario Pérez, explained that "the offender faces a fine (...), in addition to other criminal consequences, which will be resolved from the investigation carried out by the Prosecutor's Office ", which will conclude in 90 days.

For Rapu, however, these are insufficient measures, which is why he has claimed "to review the legal framework that protects the historical and cultural heritage of the original peoples." It is the only way that, in his opinion, you can "give a categorical signal of defense and care."

"As is known, the Moais are sacred structures of religious value for the Rapa Nui people and an act of this nature is not only a repudiable act, but also an offense to a living culture that in recent years struggles to recover all its heritage historical and archeological, "he emphasized.

The mayor of Rapa Nui, in line with Rapu, will resume the proposal to restrict vehicle access to the site, something that he tried eight years ago but was then rejected by the municipal authorities. "Eight years ago we were 8,000 people, today we are over 12,000, plus another 12,000 tourists who arrive every month. We were not heard and there is the result," Edmunds lamented.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Chile

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