The former mayor of Puerto Natales, José Fernando Paredes Mansilla, has been indicted on charges of bribery, among others, and sent to prison. The controversial management of Paredes, who was mayor for 12 years, has plunged the municipality of Puerto Natales into a deep financial crisis due to billions of pesos spent on unfinished public works, contracts that were not fulfilled, double payments to suppliers, construction of infrastructure with serious deficiencies, and the existence of a network set up to appropriate tax money.