2023-05-01 07:00:10
What day is it ? “I lose track of time”notes Daniel, a 30-year-old Venezuelan migrant, sitting on the low wall of a square in Iquique, a Chilean city in the Tarapaca region located 1,700 kilometers north of Santiago, in mid-April. “Last night we slept outside. Me, just a few minutes. I was afraid that we would be robbed”he reports, pointing to his companion, Joselin, 26, and their daughter, Alanna, soon to be 3 years old.
At the end of a two-month hitchhiking and bus journey from Venezuela, which they left because« [ils] did not eat[ient] not every day “, they reached their destination, Chile, a week ago, crossing the border with Peru. Like thousands of other migrants, mostly precarious Venezuelans, they smuggled in, unable to afford a passport and visa in their country of origin. They hoped to land a job immediately. “We asked everywhere, but we found nothing. Being on the street makes us ashamed”, laments Daniel. A passer-by offered them two trays of chicken rice. But the Chileans crossed have warned them: here, migrants are not welcome.
In order to stem the influx from Bolivia and Peru, the Chilean President, Gabriel Boric (left), deployed soldiers to monitor the border with the two countries on February 27 for a period of ninety days. They have the right to carry out identity checks and apprehend people crossing the border. “The State was not sufficiently ready to receive the massive and irregular arrival of migrants”argued Gabriel Boric, on March 15. “Unfortunately, some of them come with the intention of committing crimes (…). We will seek them out and make their lives impossible, within the framework of the rule of law”he added.
Suspicion climate
This measure constitutes a reversal. Before taking office in March 2022, Gabriel Boric’s program promised a migration policy based on human rights and a register of foreigners without a residence permit, a thousand miles from the military scenario. On April 18, on the contrary, Parliament approved two bills tightening immigration controls and deportation conditions.
According to the Interior Ministry, the presence of the military – a popular measure – has reduced the number of illegal immigrants crossing the Chilean border by 55% compared to the same period of the previous year, with an average of 440 arrivals per week . But militarization highlights the government’s difficulty in implementing a coherent migration policy, the shortcomings of the state and the fragility of a social fabric rife with xenophobia.
You have 63.42% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#Chile #soldiers #border #stem #flow #migrants