The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Chile expels 138 migrants stranded on the border with Bolivia

2021-02-11T13:38:54.829Z


The Government of Sebastián Piñera seeks to give a signal of zero tolerance with irregular entries Venezuelan and Colombian migrants are deported dressed in protective equipment against covid-19, at the airport in Iquique, Chile, this Wednesday.Alex Diaz / AP Chile has expelled a total of 138 migrants this Wednesday amid the migratory tension that is registered in the north of the country. Dressed in protective equipment against covid-19, 86 Venezuelan and Colombian citizens were escorted to t


Venezuelan and Colombian migrants are deported dressed in protective equipment against covid-19, at the airport in Iquique, Chile, this Wednesday.Alex Diaz / AP

Chile has expelled a total of 138 migrants this Wednesday amid the migratory tension that is registered in the north of the country.

Dressed in protective equipment against covid-19, 86 Venezuelan and Colombian citizens were escorted to the plane by police, while another 52 people were deported by buses to Peru and Bolivia as part of the so-called Colchane Plan, announced on Tuesday and with the that the center-right government of Sebastián Piñera seeks to give a signal of zero tolerance towards irregular immigration.

Although it comes from afar, the crisis intensified on February 1, after the irregular entry of thousands of immigrants to the commune of Colchane, a small town on the border with Bolivia of barely 1,700 inhabitants, mostly of Aymara descent, located almost 2,000 kilometers from Santiago, and whose access to basic services such as electricity, drinking water and sewers is non-existent or only available for a few hours.

Furthermore, the crisis was exacerbated after the death of two people - of Venezuelan and Colombian origin - presumably caused by the low temperatures in this area, located at 3,600 meters above sea level, and which at this time of year registers high temperatures in the day and sub-zero thermometers at night.

In statements to EL PAÍS, the mayor of the town, Javier García Choque, has indicated that the place is experiencing “a moment of collapse, with 1,800 migrants”, which exceeds the total population of the area and has caused the saturation of the basic services of a commune that already lacks the fundamental infrastructures (in addition to water and electricity, pharmacies or supermarkets) to "be able to respond to the needs of people, who have experienced violations of their human rights," he added.

“This is a milestone, because it is the first time that such a massive administrative expulsion has been carried out in a single day.

They are people who have not committed serious crimes, who do not have family in Chile, who are not parents or have children here, and what corresponds, as the law says, is that they be expelled.

What we want to find with this is a very powerful signal that we have to order the migratory flow across our borders ”, explained the Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado, who explained that of the total expelled only 11 had pending legal proceedings.

Delgado arrived in the area accompanied by the Minister of Defense, Baldo Prokurica, and the Foreign Minister, Andrés Allamand, who announced that "a very intense campaign of dissemination abroad" will be carried out to report on the measures that the Chilean Government is adopting.

"Particularly for those who enter irregularly, it will be expulsion," he stressed.

In parallel, hundreds of migrants are still stationed in Colchane with no alternatives.

This is the case of Jesús Eduardo García, who, according to municipal sources, began his migratory journey three and a half years ago in Mérida, in northwestern Venezuela, to reunite with his relatives who reside in Chile.

"As foreigners we see that Chile is a first world country, developed, which offers you more opportunities when you manage to legalize yourself," he told the press department of the consistory.

His journey, he says, was complex.

He first arrived in Peru, where he spent almost three years, and in the midst of the lack of opportunities due to the coronavirus pandemic, he crossed into Bolivia, where he hired a

trunker

, as the trucks that enter Chile with migrants through non-stop are known. enabled.

But when we got to Colchane everything got uphill: "It was a bit difficult, the food, the weather, the accommodation, because we had no shelter for anything."

In the midst of the massive arrival of immigrants, Mayor García Choque asked the Government to resort to diplomacy to find a solution to the problem.

The councilor described La Moneda's plan as "a communication pyrotechnics that only seeks to provide an apparent tranquility to the Chilean population" in the face of a crisis "that is increasingly out of control."

Meanwhile, the president of the Association of Venezuelans in Chile, Patricia Rojas, assured that the authorities "did not inform about their rights" to the expelled migrants.

“They were not told that they could go to the courts of the country to request an appeal for protection or protection.

We are very impressed with the speed that these administrative acts were carried out, ”he said in an interview with TVN.

The Piñera government's commitment places Chile on the regional counterpart of Colombia, a country that seeks to regularize about one million undocumented Venezuelan migrants who are already in its territory through a temporary protection statute valid for 10 years.

Macarena Rodríguez, president of the board of the Jesuit Migrant Service, an entity that provides support and advice to people who come to Chile in search of better opportunities, said on Radio Concert that “it is very impressive that this is the state response of Chile, while others countries like Colombia —which has received an even greater number of people and that has very important internal problems— have been able to look at this in a protection logic ”.

Rodríguez emphasized that these are people who “do not leave their country of their own free will but because conditions are very harsh, complex, and who even make decisions such as crossing the plateau, the desert, crossing the entire continent on foot, risking their life, because for them the possibility of survival is greater than in their country of origin ”.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-02-11

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-04T10:41:08.070Z
Life/Entertain 2024-03-09T08:58:44.007Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.