The Chilean public prosecutor’s office ordered an investigation into a violent demonstration against Venezuelan immigrants | He also provided protective measures for the 16 foreigners attacked.

The Chilean prosecution has opened an investigation into the violent attack on a group of Venezuelan immigrants, whose precarious property was burned in the city of Iquique. On Saturday, a demonstration brought together about three thousand people who, with Chilean flags and shouting “Illegal out!” protested against the increasing arrival of migrants in the northern city of the country. Despite requests for solutions to the migration problem from 24 Chilean organizations and other international organizations such as UNICEF, the Interior Ministry Rodrigo Delgado assured that he would continue “the expulsion plan”. The Venezuelan government has expressed its condemnation of “xenophobia and attacks” against migrants in Chile.

Iquique City Prosecutor Jócelyn Pacheco instructed the police to investigate the events that took place “It ended with the burning of the property of migrant families,” the Tarapacá region prosecutor’s office tweeted on Sunday. Pacheco also “ordered protective measures for the victims”., around 16 migrants, including children and the elderly, who had to flee with the little they managed to save and sleep in the streets and beaches of Iquique.

“Yesterday I was very scared, with so much xenophobia, the children cried and said to me “Mum, let’s hide, let’s hide”. Some of the demonstrators shouted at us, sending us to our country, but the police blocked the streets to protect us, ”he told reporters. Jenny, a 34-year-old woman, surrounded by her five children, a grandson, a son-in-law and her mother-in-law. The family is raising funds to travel to Santiago, nearly two thousand kilometers south of Iquique.

The violent protest came after police evicted on Friday a place where immigrant families with children were camping., amid the growing migration crisis in the region. Thousands of undocumented Venezuelans cross the border between Bolivia and Chile through unauthorized crossings in the inhospitable Altiplano, putting their lives in danger. About 11 immigrants have died on this route in the past year.

Condemnation of violence

The unfortunate events of the weekend were condemned by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe González, who described the incident as an “unacceptable humiliation against particularly vulnerable migrants”.

For its part, Unicef ​​expressed “its concern at the situation faced by immigrant children and adolescents in Iquique” and demanded that the Chilean State “guarantee and protect their rights, thus respecting the international treaties signed by the country “.

In addition, 24 immigrant and human rights organizations repudiated the attacks and called on Sebastián Piñera’s government for solutions to the migration problem. Among these solutions, access to shelters with adequate sanitary conditions and the start of the regularization process for foreigners stood out. “Such acts threaten the construction of a humane, welcoming and inclusive society”the organizations said in a statement.

The government of Nicolás Maduro also condemned this Sunday “xenophobia and attacks against Venezuelan immigrants”. in the city of Iquique. “Venezuela demands that national and local authorities in Chile respect the physical and psychological integrity of our nationals,” the executive vice president said on Twitter, Delcy Rodriguez. In this regard, Rodríguez reported that President Maduro ordered the activation of the plan called “Vuelta a la Patria”, which aims to facilitate the return of migrants suffering from xenophobia to host countries.

“A humanitarian policy” is missing

Some of the people who took part in the chaotic weekend protest then approached the attacked Venezuelans to apologize and help them with money, clothes, food and tents. “They said they never tried to attack us,” said Daniel, a 25-year-old Venezuelan, accompanied by other immigrants. “They came to tell us that they are supporting the march so that the Chilean government can find us shelter or help us not to sleep on the streets,” said another.

The Minister of the Interior of Chile, Rodrigo Delgado, expressed his disagreement with the violent demonstration. However, Delgado stressed that he “will continue with evictions in all public spaces that are necessary” and also “with the expulsion plan” of undocumented migrants led by the Chilean government. “We must continue to give signals of order,” added the minister.

In regards to Claudio González, executive secretary of the Social Foundation of Christian Churches (Fasic), said: “This mistreatment of immigrants occurs in the absence of a humanitarian policy on the part of the government, which has favored deportations and detentions.. This xenophobia has been encouraged because we are facing the situation from an economic and not a humanitarian perspective. “

Most immigrants try to get to Santiago. But the poorest cannot afford a trip to the Chilean capital and have had to stay in Iquique or other towns in the north of the country, camping in the streets in inhospitable conditions. Incomes of people smuggled into Chile totaled 23,673 through July, nearly seven thousand more than in all of last year, according to the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM) report for September.