Latin America – Migrants on the Concordia Line in Peru and Chile
After the deadly War of the Pacific (1879-1884), Bolivia lost its access to the sea, and Peru lost a large part of its southern coast. Forty-five years later, American mediation somehow resolved the border disputes between Chile and Peru. Finally, on 3 June 1929, a diplomatic agreement was signed in Lima.
Tacna returned to Peru, while Arica, a former Peruvian territory, remained under the sovereignty of Chile, which argued that the port city's inhabitants were more sympathetic towards Chile. As a result, the Línea Concordia de Perú y Chile was established as the border between the two states, running from the Pacific Ocean to the border with Bolivia.
In April this year, the space between the Peruvian and Chilean border posts, located respectively to the north and south of the Línea Concordia, was the subject of diplomatic tension. Predominantly Haitian, Venezuelan and Colombian migrants wanted to leave Chile through the north and eventually got stranded at the border. The Peruvian government did not grant them access to its territory, arguing it was a security problem. Instead, it declared a state of emergency and sent 300 military personnel to its border.
The mayor of Tacna [in Peru] called the Chilean president "unmentionable and irresponsible" for shifting the migration problem to the border. Consequently, the Chilean Foreign Ministry summoned the Peruvian ambassador, arguing that statements like those of the mayor [of Tacna] do little to help resolve a problem of enormous complexity. Subsequently, the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Chilean ambassador in Lima. On Wednesday, 26 April, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte declared a state of emergency for the Peruvian police and army to curb illegal migration.
On 28 April, Fr Lucas López SJ interviewed the head of Encuentros SJM Peru, an NGO run by Peruvian Jesuits to accompany, welcome and promote hospitality in the face of the reality of migration in the country, and the head of the Jesuit Migrant Service in Chile. Father Lucas tells us about it: read more…
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