The drama of hundreds of Haitians and Venezuelans stranded between Chile and Peru continues after an increase in immigration controls

Under the desert sun and cold, Hundreds of undocumented migrants leaving Chile have been crowding the Tacna border crossing for weeks where the Peruvian authorities prevent them from passing.

“On average, 150 to 200 people have gathered at this border crossing in recent days,” Federico Agusti, Peru’s representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), told AFP.

“The flows are changing, there has been a peak of about 400 people, of different nationalities,” says Agusti. According to Acnur, “50% of the people concentrated at the border crossing are Haitians, and about 40% Venezuelans.”

The migrants are trapped between Chilean and Peruvian police guarding the border point. 1,500 km south of Lima. The Peruvian government blocked their way and sent 200 troops to strengthen immigration controls, which Chile had previously tightened.

Peru deployed drones with infrared night vision to detect any attempted illegal entry.

“We are getting cold, sun, sunstroke, the children here. this is a bit [foco] of flies out there, which can receive any parasite”says María Leonor Gómez, a Colombian migrant stranded at the border.

The AFP witnessed how an 8-year-old boy, who appeared to have passed out, was loaded into a Peruvian police patrol to be transferred to a health center in an emergency.

“Everyone has had to sleep here, children in their arms, children wrapped in plastic, put them in caves because there is nowhere to house the children and that is inhuman,” complains Venezuelan Ender Finol.

Peru prevents the entry of Venezuelan, Haitian and Ecuadorian migrants who lived in Chile

UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned in a statement about “the grave situation in Tacna”, where people are “in many cases stranded without food, water, shelter or health care, with heightened protection risks”.

We have “delivered nearly 6,000 food rations in recent weeks,” Agusti said.

Faced with the rejection by the Peruvian authorities, the migrants improvise camps in Tacna, with a population of about 325,000 and located about 35 km from the border.

On that day, reception rooms have been set up “where people can rest, wash”, Agusti emphasized.

It is estimated that the The Venezuelan population in Peru, which represents nearly 9 out of 10 foreigners, is nearly 1.3 million people.

A third do not have a migration permit to remain in the country, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INEI).

In limbo between Chile and Peru

The migrants started their return journey without papers. People wishing to enter Peru are asked for an exit stamp from Chile. And this is only obtained if they also have an entry stamp, which requires a valid passport and visa.

“They want to kick us out of the country (Chile), but they won’t let us through (to Peru),” says Javier Soto, a Venezuelan migrant.

Another migrant interviewed by AFP, Jermain Escalona Ugueto, aged 28 and with two children, indicated that He has tried three times to enter Chile, but has been turned back by the Chilean authorities.

He explains that he has no passport, only his Venezuelan ID “and my children’s papers”.

He only asks for “transportation to get to the Chilean border and leave the square”. “It looks very bad that we sleep with the children, with discarded and unkempt clothes,” he says.

This Friday, several dozen people marched in Tacna demanding solutions for migrants who spend the night in the city’s main square.

“The population is upset and concerned,” Antonio Chambi, president of the Almirante Miguel Grau de Tacna neighborhood council, told AFP. They have set up “more than 20, 30 tents” and some are “using drugs and attacking people”.