“Be careful walking around this area, it’s not as safe anymore.” It was the first in a long series of warnings that would later be issued in a city, Santiago de Chile, whose citizens have been more cautious for years. According to official figures, the homicide rate in the Andean country has tripled over the past decade. An alarming fact which, analyzed in absolute terms and especially compared to its environment, gives different information. With 6 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, Chile is one of the safest places on the entire continent. Below the average of 20 homicides in Latin American and Caribbean countries. However, More than 87% of Chileans have a feeling of insecurity and places this problem as its main concern. A paradox which has become the most important demand to which the new government resulting from the presidential elections which will take place this Sunday must respond.
For Janet Jara, from the left, as for José Antonio Kast, from the right, this was the central point of the electoral campaign. At the close of Jara’s campaign in the city of Puente Alto, the candidate stressed that During his first 100 days of government, they will carry out 100 neighborhood interventions put an end to drugs and guns on the streets. The same thing happened with Kast, who, in a direct relationship between crime and illegal immigration, promised that will expel more than 300,000 people when he takes office in March. In fact, every day he gave a new reminder: “You have less than 90 days to leave voluntarily.”
Citizens’ security concerns are clear. The question now is whether the situation is as alarming as they feel. For Pilar Lizana, security and organized crime researcher, executive director of Volpe Consulting and with more than 10 years of experience in the Chilean Undersecretariat of Defense, what is going on? “yes, this can be defined as a real security crisis” because it shows the state of institutions that were prepared to face a security threat very different from the current threat. “Our objective figures in terms of security are much better than those of other countries in the region. The problem that arises is that when we compare ourselves to ourselves, the analysis is always more pessimistic or critical than that which comes from abroad. Especially because we see that this new crime from abroad has not received a response in time”, he explains.
Change in crime and arrival of the Aragua train
The deterioration of homicide and violent crime figures in Chile can be explained mainly from a geopolitical point of view. The situation in countries in the region such as Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador has caused the arrival of transnational criminal groups such as the Tren de Araguataking advantage of the migratory routes of thousands of immigrants who try to reach countries like Chile to find a better life. Security experts recognize that crime has changed as these groups have established themselves and that acts such as score-settling, drug trafficking, hitmen, kidnappings or dismemberment now occur.
This is recognized by Jorge Araya, director of public security in Chile between 2009 and 2010 and academic at the University of Santiago. “The feeling of insecurity in Chile, rather than being due to the quantity, is due to the fact that we are witnessing crimes that did not exist before,” he explains. The Andean country is characterized by traditional crime based on crimes against property and theft. Regarding the speed with which foreign criminal organizations established themselves in the country, he says that crime reacts faster than the state bureaucracy and that they saw an opportunity in Chile because of the carelessness that existed at the borders. Araya also points to the conditions of this country as another attraction for these groups: “We have good ports and a very open economy, so it is easy to export products. “Plus, it’s a place where there is significant drug use.”
The feeling of insecurity is due to the fact that we are witnessing crimes that did not exist before.
However, these organizations force people in vulnerable situations to introduce them little by little into criminal networks. “The Aragua Train is dedicated to the exploitation of migrants who seek to reach Chile and who have no means of doing so. They have put their checkpoints and charge these kinds of tolls that they call “vaccines” to go from one place to another and crossing Venezuela towards the south. They specialized in the smuggling of migrants and the trafficking of human beings for the purposes of sexual exploitation,” explains Lizana. According to the researcher, this organization established itself very quickly from Arica to Puerto Montt, which represents 75% of the national territory. It did so “with a lot of violence” in “illegal installations”, also called “camps”.
The impact on the electoral campaign
Faced with this reality, it was inevitable that the political discourse would not revolve around the urgency of how to combat it. “Political leaders took it on board, knowing that this Sunday will be important,” says Lizana, who adds that “the demand for a strong hand has taken hold among some citizens.” In this sense, the discourse that we must do whatever is necessary to ensure security has been adopted. greater articulation in right-wing and far-right partiesas we saw in this campaign with candidates like Johannes Kaiser or Kast himself.
Among his proposals for what he considers an “emergency situation”, the right-wing candidate proposes everything from maximum security prisons with total isolation to tougher sanctions against criminals, increasing the powers of security forces, closing the border if necessary or providing more technology for its control. In addition to a message from immediate expulsion of hundreds of thousands of illegal people, whether or not they have committed crimes on Chilean territory. Wide controversy has been generated on this issue, as it has not been clarified where they will be expelled, since the name of the countries receiving these expulsions has not been given. These gaps in the discourse were used in public debates by the left led by Jara, who, as the campaign progressed, insisted more and more on security, aware of the importance it will have in the vote. The official candidate also promised to increase border control and the security budget, although she denounced mass expulsions of immigrants and pleaded for limited and conditional regularization.
For Araya, although it has happened more significantly in this campaign, security is an issue that “unfortunately is used a lot politically.” “People are afraid, and even though this perception may be exaggerated, it leads to the search for a quick solution. And that’s where the candidate who comes up with a stronger or more effective proposal is the one who ends up gaining support,” he says.
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