2023-07-11 16:03:47
The argument put forward is that foreigners, mostly living in poverty and coming from countries of the South, are responsible for the increase in crime
The response of governments to migrants in a context of increasing stigmatization towards foreigners, who are usually held responsible for local social ills –or, at least, for their aggravation–, has become a justification for passing anti-immigration laws, implement questionable security policies and militarize their borders to stop illegal flows.
The argument put forward is that foreigners, mostly living in poverty and coming from countries of the global South, are responsible for the increase in crime.
The media, governments and political leaders tend to echo this apparent causality, despite the fact that for the moment there is no data to prove it, something that has been insistently denounced by various human rights organizations, including Amnesty International.
Latin America is no stranger to these aporophobic doctrines applied in the global North for several decades, despite the fact that international migrants represent only 2.3% of the population, that is, about 14 million, according to the most recent figures. from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Thus, countries such as Peru, Chile, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala or Colombia report a deterioration in their citizen security indices, which they often blame on organized crime gangs of foreign origin or irregular migrants.
Discrimination against Venezuelans
The number of Venezuelans abroad is difficult to determine with precision. Some data, emanating from organizations such as the United Nations Agency for Refugees (Acnur), are controversial and differ from the estimates of the Government of Nicolás Maduro.
Caracas has denounced that the estimate given by international organizations and governments on the number of Venezuelans abroad has been deliberately inflated for political reasons. Foreign Minister Yván Gil has criticized the “manipulation of figures related to human mobility, in order to capture financial resources that are not subject to accountability or audit.”
Be that as it may, many of the countries that host Venezuelans have at some point resorted to a discourse that criminalizes migration and have announced or adopted discriminatory security measures against them.
Blaming in Bogota
In Colombia, where UNHCR estimates that some 1.7 million Venezuelans would reside, the mayoress of Bogotá, Claudia López, has blamed them on numerous occasions for crimes that occurred in the capital. The last episode occurred on June 28, when the mayor assured that 15 Venezuelan people detained in an operation belonged to the Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang that emerged in central Venezuela. The species was denied by the government of President Nicolás Maduro, but López did not retract.
In November 2020, López accused Venezuelans of “making life of squares” for Bogotanos and as a defense he replied that “there is a 20% participation of Venezuelans in the robberies”, although he did not offer details of the origin of the figure or Submit supporting documentation.
In August 2021, he again attacked migrants from Venezuela, when he proposed the creation of a special command to “combat criminal gangs that involve the migrant population.”
The measure was not implemented, but his words are not innocuous. A special commission of the National Assembly of Venezuela to investigate the crimes perpetrated against Venezuelan migrants in the last decade managed to document 4,918 murders up to August 2022, although neither the totalizations by country nor the actions of local authorities have been made public. each case.
Migrants: scapegoat in Chile
The National Institute of Statistics of Chile reports that at the end of 2021, about 1.48 million people of foreign origin resided in the country, of which nationals from Venezuela, Peru, Haiti, Colombia and Bolivia represent the most numerous. Of these, just over a third would be Venezuelans.
Official data indicates that foreigners represent 8.4% of the population. However, these estimates are partial, since the accounting only includes those who have processed their stay permits.
Fuente: www.globovision.com
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