Peru declared a state of emergency for 60 days and militarized its borders due to the large number of migrants crossing into the neighboring country.
Chile’s government said on Friday that it was a priority to open a humanitarian corridor for hundreds of undocumented migrants who have been arriving at the northern border for weeks to leave the country for Peru.
“Our objective now is to manage the crisis at the border, but our main objective is to create a humanitarian corridor from Chile so that these people can return to their country,” said Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve. at a press conference near the neighboring country’s border.
For her part, the Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Chile, Gloria de la Fuente, confirmed in the same conference that the Government of Chile held meetings with Peruvian authorities on the border to resolve the humanitarian crisis, but noted that the humanitarian corridor “continues to demand the will of the countries to which migrants want to return.
“We discussed with the Peruvian government the possibility of creating the conditions for a humanitarian, air or land corridor, which would also mean communicating with other countries in the region or seeking other solutions,” De la Fuente explained. Monsalve added that the Government of Chile will enable population registration points so that migrants can identify themselves before leaving Chile, so that “no one who has committed a crime leaves the country.”
“Most of the people in an irregular situation in Chile want to leave, and above all they want to return to Venezuela. We need checkpoints to identify them and also to guarantee humanitarian conditions,” said the Interior Minister.
Hundreds of illegal immigrants, mostly Venezuelans, remain on Chile’s northern border awaiting permission from Chilean authorities to leave the country, which has caused humanitarian problems due to the lack of services and the region’s dry climate.
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The conflict between Chile and Peru escalated a week ago when Pascual Güisa, mayor of the Peruvian border city of Tacna, described Chilean President Gabriel Boric as “irresponsible” and accused his government of “bringing the (migration) problem to the border.” . The UN spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, called this Friday for dialogue between the governments of Peru and Chile to solve the problem of migrants at their common border and expressed concern about the difficult situation of hundreds of people who are still trapped and trying to leave to Chile without water. , food or sewage.
Currently, around 1.4 million foreigners live in Chile, which is equivalent to more than 7% of the population, being Venezuelans, Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians.