Mayor of Rapa Nui: Sentence for damage to moai should be given to the government, not the tourist

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SANTIAGO.- After Finnish citizen Marko Kulju was charged with a violation of the law of National Monuments for detaching a piece of an ear on a moai statue, the mayor of Isla de Pascua, Pedro Pablo Edmunds, made his critique of the government public. According to him, the government has “abandoned” the island and he does not believe that the tourist should be held responsible because “he did not know what he was doing”.

The mayor reiterated that the European tourist does not deserve a severe penalty, stating “I would not sentence him at all. I would turn the criticism to the government. He did not know what he was doing. Nobody was there to tell him about the meaning of the moai for those of us who are living, for those of us who are their descendents”.

Edmunds also reminded the press that “this is not the first occasion on which a tourist (has damaged the monument), and before that, looting after looting that the Chilean State allowed to happen”.