The mayor of Iquique, Mauricio Soria, referred to the complicated migratory situation that the area is experiencing in the Tarapacá Region, where in less than a week various demonstrations have been held; which even led to the complete paralysis of the city due to the demand for greater security. The beating suffered by police personnel and the murder with kidnapping of a businessman, filled the patience of its inhabitants.
in conversation with Radio DuneSoria stressed that the strike was called “by the active forces of the city, by its unions and social leaders” as a response “after we have lost our quality of life for a long time, and the feeling of insecurity is very great in the city “.
Regarding what he wants to happen in Iquique, Soria hopes that “the necessary measures for security” will be taken.
“The issue of immigration policy in Chile is quite complex. Now there is a decree by the government itself to close the borders, but that is not being carried out today. I hope there will be that control at the border, the closure that will be has proposed, but obviously we are also in a government that is in a transition. It makes the measures that it can compromise quite difficult because it is a government that is leaving,” he said. “Multilateral work is needed with the other countries, the crisis that Venezuela is experiencing is a global one,” he added.
After the visit of the Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado, to the area, Soria indicated that his solutions offer “nothing new.”
“What the minister has come to say is that he is coming to expel people who have committed crimes, and that is within the scope of the law, it is what is being done, it is not new, it is something that has been done by long time,” he explained.
Along the same lines, the mayor said that the solution has to be concrete. “They don’t get anything out of signing 50,000 expulsion decrees, if people are going to continue committing crimes the same. What is needed is to register people who are committing or have committed crimes or who are starting from a crime they have committed, because they are the ones who ultimately generate insecurity,” he stressed.
Likewise, he indicated that “we must have a share of reality” about the situation that the northern zone is going through. “The discourse that they are going to continue expelling everyone. Finally we know that we must also have the share of reality: there are more than 100,000 people who should try to expel, and that is almost impossible, where are they going to find them? What we need today is security,” he snapped.
Regarding a possible meeting with the President-elect, Gabriel Boric, Soria stated that he hopes his future government will better address the migration crisis in the area.
“I hope that during this month, they are very clear about what should be done, just as I talked with this government, I will also talk with representatives of Boric, and pass on all the information we have in the city of Iquique,” he said. “That the migratory issue be addressed in a better way, which today is clearly a disaster due to everything that is happening,” he added.
As for the solutions, the mayor declared that they are insufficient. “The measures that have been adopted are not the necessary ones to generate a solution to an event that is unprecedented,” he concluded.
