Venezuela Demands Respect for Migrants in Chile

On Sunday, President Nicolas Maduro's administration demanded that the Chilean authorities respect the human rights of Venezuelan migrants who were victims of violent acts of discrimination.

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 "Venezuela repudiates xenophobia and aggressions against its migrants and demands that the Chilean national and subnational authorities respect the physical and psychological integrity of our fellow nationals," Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said, adding that President Maduro ordered the activation of the plan to support Venezuelans who want to return to their homeland.

On Saturday, a camp with Venezuelans was attacked by xenophobic Chileans who were participating in an anti-immigration demonstration in Iquique city. Besides burning the migrants' belongings, the attackers chased the Venezuelans for several blocks.

The day before, the militarized Chilean Police (Carabineros), which is widely known for its brutal actions, carried out an operation to evict some 150 Venezuelan families that were camping in Brazil Square.

The tweet reads, "The Chilean 'exemplary' democracy allows the celebration of an 'anti-Venezuelan march'. Duque, Piñera, and Guaido live off the 'immigration' script and use it to exacerbate ignoble, miserable feelings. The gringos have just paid them US$336 million."

In reaction to these events, the United Nations and local social organizations expressed their strong rejection of the aggressions suffered by migrants and criticized President Sebastian Piñera's policies.

During the weekend, members of the Communist Youth of Chile (JCC) gave support to the attacked migrants, as reported by Paola Dragnic, correspondent for teleSUR.

“Popular organization in response to barbarism. Yesterday, the youth of Iquique deployed to help the dozens of migrant families affected by evictions, racism, discrimination, and xenophobia. No human being is illegal!,” JCC stressed.