RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Dozens of trucks blocked the main accesses to Iquique, in the Tarapacá region, about 1,800 km north of Santiago, and which since the end of 2019 receives thousands of undocumented immigrants who cross the rugged border between Chile and Bolivia through clandestine passages.
Most of the immigrants are Venezuelan citizens in conditions of extreme poverty. Those who cross with more economic resources and family members in Chile reach cities in the south or the capital, but the most destitute set up camps in squares and beaches of this city.
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“We inform that due to the stoppage of activities occurring in Iquique, operations both departure and arrival at Diego Aracena airport have been temporarily suspended. This suspension will be maintained until the blockade of airline and terminal personnel access is lifted,” said a statement from the city’s air terminal.
The beating of two police officers by seven Venezuelans in Iquique last week caused outrage among the population of this city, and some 4,000 people came out to protest, shouting xenophobic cries to denounce the massive presence of undocumented immigrants increased crime and insecurity in the city.
The protest ended with one Venezuelan injured and an encampment of foreigners forcibly evicted; images that have been repeated since September last year, when in another demonstration against excessive migration, the belongings of Venezuelan families were burned.
“There are crimes to which we were not accustomed, such as hired killings and kidnappings, and today, unfortunately, they are occurring in the area (…) Crimes have always existed, but there is an increase in violence”, Raul Arancibia, prosecutor of Tarapaca, told local radio Cooperativa.
Chilean police said that at least 200 foreigners currently cross the border between Bolivia and Chile daily through clandestine crossings to reach the border town of Colchane, some 237 km from Iquique.
During the pandemic and with closed borders, Chile’s migratory situation worsened since February 2021, when Venezuelan immigrants themselves have denounced gangs from Venezuela, Bolivia, and Chile that extort them in their journey across the border.
With information from AFP