Chile militarizes its border while negotiating with Bolivia on migrations and smuggling

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The government of Sebastián Piñera accused the Plurinational State of Bolivia of facilitating the irregular passage of Venezuelan citizens, who are received in a climate of racism and xenophobia. Through dialogue, an attempt will be made to regularize the migratory flow.

Chile has been receiving hundreds of migrants per day through its borders with Peru and Bolivia for the past year. Many people cross illegally and end up sleeping on public roads in Chilean towns. It has provoked several xenophobic attacks against those who have recently arrived in the country, mainly from Venezuela. Due to this situation, President Sebastián Piñera militarized the country’s north, where a state of emergency is also in force.

Analysts consulted by Sputnik considered Piñera’s measure “desperate”. Meanwhile, negotiations continue between Bolivia and Chile to deal with this and other issues of concern to both nations.

Chilean historian Máximo Quitral evaluated that “militarization has not provoked fear among migrants. It is thought that with this type of actions the people who are moving between the borders will feel intimidated, frightened, but that has not happened”.

THE NEGOTIATION

Days ago, the foreign ministries of Bolivia and Chile issued a joint communiqué agreeing “on the importance of this new stage of bilateral relations that is being developed within the framework of the Road Map agreed between both governments on April 30, 2021”.

In the recent virtual meeting, authorities of both countries agreed to initiate three bi-national working groups to address “border issues”, such as smuggling and illegal trade; migration issues; human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, “as well as to activate the Working Group on Police Cooperation as soon as possible”, they said in the statement.

Bolivia and Chile “agreed to address these matters and advance, within the framework of a State policy, towards solutions that allow combating transnational organized crime, with particular emphasis on smuggling and migration control”.

Before the beginning of the meetings, the Chilean Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado, did not spare himself from criticizing the Plurinational State, implying that anyone is allowed to pass into his national territory at the border.

“Bolivia is by far the least cooperative country” when it comes to controlling the border it shares with Chile. Minister Delgado added that the Bolivian police allow Venezuelan citizens to pass “in exchange for money”.

A LATE DECISION

Quitral is the director of the Institute of Latin American Politics (IPOLAT) in Chile. In an interview with Sputnik, he considered that the Chilean decision to set up working tables with Bolivia “is somewhat late. That is why we have this complex situation, which has been called ‘migratory crisis’, but it has been going on for quite some time”.

The migratory crisis cost former foreign minister Andrés Allamand, who a few days ago took over as head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), his post. Carolina Valdivia took his place.

“I tend to think that this late decision responds to the lack of concern that former Foreign Minister Allamand had to focus on the situation that was taking place in the north and center of Chile”, said Quitral.

He added: “All his (Allamand’s) efforts were directed more towards occupying a high position in an international organization. And he ignored the demands of the political authorities in the north, who had no political and institutional tools to deal with the situation”.

Therefore, he evaluated that the Chile-Bolivia working table “is an important measure, but it is a late measure because unfortunately it has not resolved and will not resolve the situation in the north of Chile and on the border with Bolivia”.

A SOUTH AMERICAN SOLUTION

According to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, since November 2021, every day, 500 Venezuelan citizens cross from Bolivia to Chile. They are thousands of people who, in many cases, do not bring more than the clothes on their backs, so they end up sleeping in northern Chilean cities, such as Iquique and Antofagasta.

For Quitral, the Chilean authorities will not be able to solve this migratory crisis alone: “Regardless of the ideological differences that the Chilean government may have with countries in the region, it will have to start building political bridges with Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, to generate an agreement to solve this problem”.

In addition to incorporating more actors, “a very proactive Foreign Ministry is required, which can generate instances of trust to build a collaborative agenda on migration issues,” said Quitral, who is a historian with a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of San Martin, Argentina, and has a Master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Santiago de Chile.

MILITARIZATION

Regarding the militarization of northern Chile, Quitral said that “it will be a complete failure. It already is; one sees it in the social networks. One also observes and listens to the local authorities’ comments that people continue to enter illegally”.

In this sense, Quitral evaluated that militarization “is a desperate measure, which does not respond to the political situation. Therefore, rather than resolving the issue, it could hinder it”.

He considered that “here we do not require political agendas of improvisation, but clear, concrete political agendas that guide the migratory situation in the north of Chile”.

NEGOTIATING WITH ONE FOOT OUT OF POWER

President Piñera has one month left in office before handing over to President-elect Gabriel Boric. Why is his outgoing government interested in reaching agreements with Bolivia?

Alfonso Ossandón is a Chilean journalist who hosts the international news program on the state-owned Bolivia TV channel. In a dialogue with Sputnik, he evaluated that the possible agreements signed by Piñera will condition that part of Boric’s foreign policy when he assumes the presidency.

“Boric is in a certain way obliged to assume the conditions in which he is going to receive the country. He is tied to the agreements that have been in place for the last 15 years, concerning the position of the Chilean State vis-à-vis Bolivia and Peru”, he commented.

THE CHILEAN DREAM

The arrival of migrants, mainly from Haiti and Venezuela, generates mobilizations and protests in towns in northern Chile, such as Iquique. The migrants often set up their precarious camps and are blamed for the robberies and crimes that have taken place in that city.

With the suspicion that Bolivian authorities facilitate the passage of foreigners in exchange for money, the migration table is relevant for Chilean officials.

For Ossandón, they will end up as cheap labor for the traditional Chilean powers: “In all those who thought that leaving their homes in Venezuela to go to the street in Chilean territory, there is a certain aspirational degree of the population, who believed in those promises that in Chile they would find the American dream”.

The road to the American dream requires crossing the border illegally, in the middle of the altiplano, at more than 4,000 meters above sea level, with temperatures below zero once the sun goes down. Such extreme conditions to reach Chile have caused 23 deaths since the beginning of the migration crisis in February 2021.