Chile will install shelters in the north to assist Venezuelan migrants after acts of xenophobia in Iquique

The government of Chile announced this Wednesday that in the coming days it will install several shelters in the north to assist the hundreds of venezuelans who are stranded after crossing the border through illegal crossings in what is the largest migration crisis in the recent history of the country.

“We have to take charge of a reality (…) thousands of people have entered, mainly Venezuelan citizens, although it is not the only nationality that enters, and for that we have defined a strengthening of humanitarian measures”, said the Chilean Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado.

Delgado explained that shelters will be installed in the border towns of Colchane and Huara where basic necessities will be delivered, but also in Iquique, the first large city that migrants encounter upon arrival from Bolivia.

Centers for children will also be built in collaboration with Unicef ​​and Hogar de Cristo, and vouchers will be delivered so that migrants can stay in hostels associated with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“We estimate the care of 3,600 children and adolescents and 5,400 adults in the next 12 months”, said the Minister of Social Development, Karla Rubilar.

The border crossing between the small Chilean town of Colchane and Bolivia, an Andean area at more than 3,600 meters above sea level with extreme temperatures and where at least twelve people have already died so far this year, in recent months it has become a common route for foreigners to reach Chile irregularly.

Neither the pandemic nor the social crisis that lasted for more than a year in 2019 have discouraged the desire to migrate to Chile, one of the most attractive countries in Latin America due to its political and economic stability.

After a peak in arrivals last February, the crisis has worsened in recent days with hundreds of foreigners roaming around different towns.

On Saturday, in addition, almost 5,000 people gathered in Iquique with xenophobic screams and burned tents, clothes and baby carriages of the migrants, among other objects, events that have shocked the country and aroused fiery criticism from the UN and Amnesty rapporteur International.

According to official data, between January and July of this year, more than 23,600 complaints were registered for entering the country through unauthorized passages, which is 40% more than in all of 2020.

“In the last 15 days the clandestine entries in that area, with the measures we have taken, have progressively decreased, and we are monitoring those numbers in real time,” said Delgado, who also announced a reinforcement of security and safety. surveillance in the area with more police officers and satellites.

With the aim of curbing illegal entry, the Chilean president, the conservative Sebastián Piñera, enacted a new, stricter migration law in April that requires foreigners to obtain visas in their home countries and allows deportations.

Since then, more than half a thousand people of different nationalities have been expelled on at least five charter flights.

In Chile there are 1.4 million migrants, which is equivalent to more than 7% of the population, and Venezuelans are the most numerous, followed by Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians.

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