After xenophobic attacks, they launch solidarity campaigns in Chile to help Venezuelan exiles

Multiple examples of support and solidarity have been highlighted in Chile with Venezuelan citizens attacked at the end of an anti-migrant march made in the north of the country.

On Saturday September 25, it was held in the city of Iquique, in northern Chile, a march under the slogan “Non + Migrants” against Venezuelan citizens who have come in droves to this city escape the economic, health and political crisis affecting Venezuela.

About 5,000 people marched with Chilean flags and xenophobic cries denouncing the lack of concern of the national government for the arrival of Venezuelan migrants in Iquique, which have collapsed beaches and places with makeshift camps due to the lack of shelters.

This call ended with the burning of a migrant camp and with multiple clashes between Iquiqueños and Venezuelans who have toured the world.

According to the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM) More than 23,000 illegal entries were recorded from January to June of this year in Chile. Of this number, 17,914 are Venezuelan citizens, 3,043 Bolivians, 949 Colombians and 800 Haitians.

The migration crisis in Chile has a long history, but since last year, it is because the massive arrival of Venezuelans in the north of the country has triggered an unprecedented humanitarian crisisin small towns as well as in large towns.

Border towns like Colchane located in Chile and very close to the border with Bolivia, have experienced a real humanitarian crisis. seeing himself more than once collapsed by the arrival of Venezuelan migrants who cross the country without any control. This population accuses the government of President Sebastián Piñera “of having slipped” this problem.

“The only thing we have seen are statements in the media denying the existence of this reality. The first gesture that the Government must make is to recognize that this migratory phenomenon exists and that it has become uncontrollable., and having the will to sit down and work with the mayors concerned and with the community, ”said the mayor of Colchane, Javier García.

Faced with this humanitarian crisis, it is because A campaign has been launched in Chile to help migrants, while the prosecution ordered the investigative police (PDI) to investigate the assault they were victims of after the march in Iquique.

Solidarity campaign

Chilean TV channel La Red announced a campaign to collect aid for boys and girls migrants from the north of the country. The initiative known as “A child does not migrate to be unhappy” seeks to collect tents and sleeping bags, non-perishable food, toiletries and items for boys and girls, such as toys in good condition, cars, crayons and coloring books.

La Red’s campaign joins forces with the Migrants Network of Chile and in particular the Open Assembly of Migrants and Promigrants of Tarapacá (AMPRO) and the Red Pro Migrantes de Tarapacá who are in the north of the country and coordinate aid to those affected.

Receipt of these help articles will be received until Friday October 1 in the La Red canal facilities located in Santiago de Chile, in Calle Quilín # 3750, located in the municipality of Macul.

PDI to investigate attack on migrants

The fire of personal belongings of Venezuelan migrants in Iquique has reached the national prosecutor’s office, who ordered the PDI to open investigations to find responsibility for the attack.

The PDI collected information on the location of the attack in Iquique, and requested images from surveillance cameras in the area to investigate the identity of the people behind these events. “It was also requested as a diligence that they collect the security videos of the municipal cameras which could have captured this fact,” said prosecutor Jócelyn Pacheco.

President Sebastián Piñera referred to this attack and condemned Chilean xenophobia against Venezuelan migrants. “We categorically condemn the brutal assault that an uncontrolled mob has committed against a group of irregular migrants of Venezuelan origin,” Piñera said who added “that we do all that is necessary so that this crime does not go unpunished and is severely punished according to the law ”.

Signs of repudiation from attacks

The attacks in the city of Iquique have toured the country and around the world unleash the rage of a population that has witnessed one of the most serious xenophobic attacks of which there is memory.

Chilean Senator Francisco Huenchumilla accused the government of not having measures to address this problem, and he asked himself “how is it possible that in this country we treat suffering people, who fled a dictatorship, with their families, their wives, their children, who are in the street, in the air? free (…) And what else Chileans should go and burn their stuff? “.

Presidential candidate Yasna Provoste also had words about it and pointed the finger at the government of Sebastián Piñera for this migratory dilemma. “There has been an inexcusable negligence of the administration,” said the former president of the Senate who recalled that “the government marginalized our country from the Marrakesh pact for safe, orderly and regular migration ”.

The fire of the belongings of Venezuelan migrants has reached the agencies of Unicef ​​and Human Rights Watch. The first called on the State of Chile “to guarantee and protect their rights, thus complying with the international treaties signed by the country”, and expressed concern about “The situation experienced by immigrant children and adolescents in Iquique”.

While Human Rights Watch said through its executive chairman José Manuel Vivanco what happened in Iquique “It’s a sad sight”, and that “the authorities have a legal obligation to protect immigrants (including undocumented migrants) from all kinds of violence and to fight vigorously against xenophobia”.

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