The Network of Migrant Organizations stressed that "ultra-right-wing forces incite people to link migration and delinquency". | Photo: Radio Nuevo Mundo
Santiago de Chile, February 1 (RHC)-- The Network of Migrant Journalists in Chile condemned the hate speeches and denounced the situations of threats and aggressions against the press and migrants, in the face of the surge of violence in the region of Iquique.
"Faced with the situations of public order and security, evidenced in recent days in Iquique, once again the information without a rigorous analysis in the media, coupled with the rapid spread of hate speech on social networks; and insufficient public management of migration, locally, nationally and internationally, has served as an incentive for ultra-nationalist groups to call for anti-migrant marches," the organization stressed.
It also said that this mobilization has led to "an escalation of violence against vulnerable groups of migrants and asylum seekers, who continue to arrive mostly through the northern borders and unauthorized crossings.
The organization referred that the criminalization of the immigrant population has transcended to the local authorities, who under the request of measures to the Government, have influenced a climate of stigmatization and persecution.
The Red Nacional de Organizaciones Migrantes y ProMigrantes (National Network of Migrant and Pro-Migrant Organizations) also took a position on the matter in a communiqué, in which it emphasized that it recognizes "that in the face of the discomfort felt by Iquiqueños, conservative and ultra-right-wing forces incite people - with hate speeches - to link migration and delinquency."
Similarly, the collective pointed out that crime also affects migrants, with its trafficking networks; and that in the name of mobilizing against crime these fascist forces attack isolated migrants in groups, destroy their few things, and "use the migratory phenomenon to justify a crime that is not properly repressed and that has no nationality."
According to information provided by local media, the prosecutor of Tarapacá, Raúl Arancibia, had reported that in 2021 homicides rose 183 percent. In addition to the 42 percent increase in drug trafficking, there was a 501 percent increase in migrant smuggling. He also reported a 124 percent increase in the carrying of sharp weapons, and an 18 percent increase in robberies with violence and intimidation.
During Sunday's demonstration, with the justification that migrants are the cause of violence in Iquique, xenophobic messages were issued and homes and spaces occupied by migrants were razed under the complicity of the carabineros.
At the end of September 2021, there was also a wave of violence, which ended in aggression against groups of migrants who were in public spaces in Chile and which, as stated by the Network of Migrant Journalists in Chile, "today returns under the same discourse of security and order."
Similarly, Julissa Mantilla, an expert on migration issues, stated in September 2021 that "nothing justifies violence or xenophobia and it is the responsibility of States to act with due diligence in compliance with their international obligations, especially in the case of migrants."
"Dignity is the basis of human rights and does not depend on a visa," remarked Julissa Mantilla.
