Woman died on the border between Chile and Bolivia, bringing the death toll in the area to 19 this year

A migrant woman whose identity and nationality have not yet been confirmed was found dead this Wednesday near a non-authorized border crossing in the Colchane commune, on the border between Chile and Bolivia. raising the death toll in this inhospitable area to 19 so far this year.

The finding was reported by a patrol of the Carabineros de Chile police force that was circulating in the area. So far, according to national media, the Homicide Squad is in place to promote investigations to determine the cause of death.

“We certify in the place the death of a female passerby of approximately 50 to 55 years old, and we do not know her nationality,” said Guillermo Tapia, a doctor from the Colchane municipal office, according to what was reported on the radio. Cooperative.

“It is striking the position in which the person was, which is genupectoral (on his knees). So far no natural cause or third parties can be attributed,” added the specialist.

Since February, the Colchane area, located in the Chilean highlands, has been the epicenter of a migratory crisis that worsened over the months and that currently has hundreds of undocumented people settled in public spaces in the cities of northern Chile .

The crisis had its crudest moment at the end of September, when an anti-immigration march ended with the burning of tents and belongings of Venezuelan families who were spending the night in the street, in an attack that was classified as xenophobic.

With the aim of curbing irregular entry, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera enacted a new, stricter migration law last April that requires foreigners to obtain visas in their countries of origin and allows deportations.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted that the Chilean Executive announced the expulsion of 1,500 people throughout 2021 on fifteen charter flights and that, according to the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM), by April of this year it had deported 294 people, in most of the cases “without judicial control” and mainly affecting Venezuelan migrants.

Through a document published in July this year, HRW pointed out a series of serious violations of the fundamental rights of expelled Venezuelan migrants, such as impediments to access phone calls and lawyers, summary deportations on weekends (when the courts of appeal are closed) and family separation, among others.

According to the Department of Immigration and Migration, in Chile there are 1.4 million migrants, which is equivalent to more than 7% of the population, and Venezuelans are the most numerous, followed by Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians. (I)