An unprecedented incident occurred in recent days with the mass exodus of illegal Venezuelan migrants from Chile to Peru, prompting the Peruvian government to militarize the southern border and declare a state of emergency.
Dozens of migrants decided to leave Chilean territory due to the possible victory of far-right presidential candidate José Antonio Cast, who promised to expel illegal immigrants.
Since Friday, dozens of them have been stranded on the border between Chile and Peru, which is about 150 kilometers long, with the main crossing between Tacna in Peru and Arica in Chile.
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A video posted by the governor of the border region of Arica, about 2,200 kilometers north of Santiago, revealed the situation by showing dozens of people trying to leave Chile at the Chacallota-Santa Rosa pass.
The state of emergency will remain in effect for 60 days and will govern the border areas of Palca, Tacna and La Yarda-Los Palos in the Tacna region (south).
According to the text of the decree, the state of emergency in Peru will also serve to “confront crime and other situations of violence,” as the rule states. “The Peruvian National Police maintains control of the internal system, with the support of the armed forces,” he adds.
Migration pressure. Peruvian Interior Minister Vicente Tiburcio traveled to the border in Tacna, where he announced that fifty army soldiers would be deployed “immediately” to the Santa Rosa border post in Peru. He added that fifty more soldiers will join in the first days of December. The intention is to control the entry of migrants and only accept those who have permission.
Peruvian channel Radio Tacna early broadcast images of migrants with children in their arms on the road near the border crossing.
From Chile, Security Minister Luis Cordero said, “There is a concentration of migrants who want to leave the country and face difficulties in entering Peru.”
Peru’s interim president, Jose Jiri, also justified the decision on social media
Peruvian Foreign Minister Hugo de Zella, for his part, reported that Lima and Santiago would address the issue starting Monday through a “bilateral committee for cooperation in the field of migration” created specifically to address the situation.
He pointed out that “the state of emergency in Tacna will allow for an immediate increase in the police and military presence in the region, especially in the border area.”
He also stressed that Peru would not welcome more illegal immigrants. More than 1.5 million Venezuelans have arrived in the country since 2015, fleeing a humanitarian and political crisis. The head of Peruvian diplomacy declared: “We will not allow illegal immigration, and we do not have the conditions or capacity to receive more immigrants.”
This is not the first time that Peru has militarized the border with Chile. In April 2023, the country was also under a state of emergency for two months due to the influx of unregistered Venezuelans.
Cast Warning. José Antonio Caste, the ultra-conservative who is most likely to win the runoff on December 14 in Chile against the leftist Janet Jara, has promised to expel 330,000 illegal immigrants, most of them Venezuelans, whom he links to the wave of insecurity.
“To the illegal immigrants in Chile, I tell you that you have 103 days left to voluntarily leave our homeland. If you do not leave voluntarily, you will have to leave after I assume the presidency,” Kast said in a video posted on social media on Friday.
Beyond CAST’s political use of the issue, Chile has become a major destination for migrants, especially from Venezuela.
The migrant population has doubled in seven years and will reach 8.8% of the total in 2024 in this country of 20 million people, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
It is the second highest percentage of foreign residents in a Latin American country after Costa Rica, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Venezuela is the main country of origin for migrants in Chile (41.6%), followed by Peru (14.5%) and Colombia (12.3%).
According to official estimates, about 337,000 immigrants are illegal. The majority entered the country through the northern border with Bolivia and Peru, an area where Buric’s government deployed the army in early 2022.
This issue is of central importance in the election campaign, as the majority of Chileans link the increase in crime rates to illegal immigration.
The massive and accelerating arrival of migrants from South America and the Caribbean (mostly Venezuelans and Haitians) to Chile over the past decade has significantly transformed the country’s society, economy and political landscape.
Chile, which has traditionally been a country of migration, has in recent years become a major recipient of migration flows in the region.
Impact of migration
Between December 2014 and December 2018, Chile’s foreign population doubled, going from 490,000 to more than 1.25 million people, with a rapid increase in the number of Venezuelans and Haitians. This phenomenon had multiple consequences.
On the one hand, experts explain that migration has contributed to the demographic growth and rejuvenation of the Chilean population, contributing a significant proportion to overall growth between 2010 and 2020. In addition, immigrants have increased the labor force, often occupying front-line and essential positions.
Although a large portion of the migrant population (particularly Venezuelans) have high levels of education (with a high proportion of professionals), many face obstacles to matching their degrees, leading to underemployment or low-paying informal jobs.
But at the same time, the concentration of migrant populations has increased demand for public services, such as health and education, forcing municipalities to implement special measures.
An increase in informal settlements or camps has also been observed in areas witnessing the arrival of large numbers of migrants, such as Antofagasta. A related social impact is increasing hostility and xenophobia towards migrants, with widespread social perception linking their arrival to increased public insecurity and the emergence of forms of crime that were previously less common in Chile.