The regional prosecutor of Tarapacá, Raúl Arancibia, addressed the latest events in Iquique, where there have been violent acts and demonstrations against crime and the uncontrolled irregular immigration that affects the area.
In interview with radio pattern, Prosecutor Arancibia pointed out that in the region “people feel insecure, you have to be here to realize it (…) the general perception that exists in the community is that there is an uncontrolled situation.”
Regarding unpublished crimes that have been registered in the region, the prosecutor maintained that “the hitman that has been emerging in this area is becoming more frequent and that is an incidence of new crimes that have obviously come from abroad.”
“It is a situation of people who are affecting coexistence and the healthy tranquility that the city of Iquique had, that is the change that has occurred and people react, it is not about being xenophobic, it is about asking for greater regulation, greater police custody, that events like the ones we saw of the attack on carabineros do not occur, because that has also happened to civilians.”
Along these lines, the persecutor remarked that “it is not about being xenophobic, it is about being realistic, we have a serious problem here. We must assume that we are facing a problem. It’s not about xenophobia, I don’t know why they give the matter that color when we’re talking about criminals, we’re not talking about people who come to work, we’re talking about criminals.”
The prosecutor stated that “there is a link from the point of view that the most serious crimes have increased. For example, the crime of homicide has had an increase of 183%, that increase that is brutal, going from 18 homicides in 2020 to 51 in 2021 are homicides committed, fundamentally, as a result of gang warfare, many times of foreigners, adjustments account, contract killing, and territorial disputes. Because crimes have entered here that we did not know about, such as extortion. (In addition) this of taking over certain territories, such as very vulnerable takeovers, they take over those places as if they were the owners of the land, they charge for doing any activity.”
Asked about a possible state of emergency decree, such as in the so-called South Macrozone, prosecutor Arancibia pointed out that “I don’t know if the state of emergency is really a solution. It’s something that has been happening for years. That is, It has exploded lately.”
