Maduro orders the activation of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria for Venezuelans in Chile after acts of xenophobia

Nicolás Maduro ordered the activation of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria for the repatriation of citizens venezuelans in Chile. The information was released by its vice president Delcy Rodríguez this Sunday, a day after a group of protesters in the Chilean town burned the precarious belongings of the migrants.

“President Nicolás Maduro ordered the activation of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria of our brothers,” the official said in her account. Twitter, in which he shared a video that collects the violent events that occurred on Saturday.

He stated that the Chavista government rejects xenophobia and aggressions against Venezuelan migrants. And it also demanded that the national and local authorities of Chile guarantee respect for the physical and psychological integrity of the nationals.

The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the violent attack on undocumented Venezuelan migrants, a fact condemned by the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The protest brought together thousands of people who, with Chilean flags and posters with anti-immigration slogans, protested against the growing arrival of migrants to Iquique.

Amid xenophobic screams, a group burned the belongings of migrants who were camping in the streets and that the police prevented from being beaten by the mob.

Prosecutor Jócelyn Pacheco of the city of Iquique instructed the Investigative Police to find out the events that occurred, said a message on the Twitter account of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Tarapacá region this Sunday.

Pacheco also ordered protection measures for the victims, some 16 migrants, including children and the elderly. They had to flee with what little they managed to rescue and spend the night in the streets and beaches of Iquique.

“Yesterday I felt very scared, with so much xenophobia, the children were crying. Some of the protesters yelled at us, sending us to our country. But the police blocked the streets to protect us, “Jenny, a 34-year-old woman, told the AFP agency.

The violent protest in Iquique occurred after the police evicted on Friday a square where migrant families with children were camping.