A Venezuelan woman and a Bolivian baby died while trying to cross the Chilean border

A 78-year-old woman and a baby only six months old died this weekend as they tried to enter Chile through the inhospitable northern border with Bolivia, where there has been a migration and humanitarian crisis unparalleled in recent years for a year.

The 78-year-old Venezuelan woman died Saturday night while medical personnel treated her in a border area of the commune of Colchane, almost 2,000 kilometers north of the capital, after her relatives alerted that she was unwell.

The second victim is a six-month-old baby, of Bolivian nationality, who died in another area of Colchane after crossing the wild highlands with his family.

“The minor was taken by her mother to the post, where the doctor on duty confirmed the death of the infant, explaining that she had a medical history due to hydrocephalus,” explained Sunday the military authorities of the area.

Northern Chile has been mired in a severe migration crisis for a year, with the massive influx of people through clandestine crossings - the majority of them Venezuelan nationality - the collapse of small border towns, the holding of marches against migration and xenophobic attacks.

The inclement highlands continue to form the main route of irregular entry into Chile, which remains one of the most attractive countries to migrate within Latin America due to its political and economic stability, despite the pandemic and social crisis of 2019.

So far this year, at least five people have died, while in 2021 there were more than twenty deaths.

On February 17, former conservative president Sebastián Piñera decreed a State of Emergency in the provinces of Arica, Parinacota, Tamarugal and El Loa, which in practice implies militarization.

The measure was extended by the current president, Gabriel Boric, and will apply until April 15.

Last December, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that nearly 500 Venezuelan refugees and migrants, including children, cross irregular border crossings between Bolivia and Chile daily and arrive in the country “after several days without eating, with dehydration, hypothermia and altitude sickness.”

So far this year, at least three people have died trying to cross the border and more than a score since the mass flow began in February 2021.

In Chile, there are 1.4 million migrants, equivalent to more than 7% of the population, and Venezuelans are the most numerous, followed by Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians.

(With information from EFE)

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