Hundreds of Haitian citizens in Chile gathered this afternoon in front of the Haitian embassy in the heart of Santiago to protest the difficulties in obtaining the criminal record certificate required by the National Migration Service (Sermig) to regularize their migratory status, according to their claims. A group of protesters forced the access bars until they knocked down the main door and entered the diplomatic premises. David Antoine, spokesperson for the Haitian Community in Chile, explained to local media that “many people thought that today they were going to get the criminal record certificate” and found out that people were being trained. Around eleven in the morning, “there was no one left to ask or provide information,” he pointed out.
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Antoine attributed the origin of the crisis to a change in the criteria within Sermig: “Many procedures were at the signing stage and when the new director of Sermig [Frank Sauberbuam] took office, he reverted those procedures to resolution,” he detailed to La Tercera. Added to this was confusion about the procedure itself. According to the spokesperson, this Saturday the embassy was not processing certificates but training a small group of people, and the information that documents were being delivered still circulated among those waiting outside, about 500 to 600 people, according to local media.
The tension escalated when, after hours without responses or spokespersons from inside the diplomatic building, some protesters tried to enter to speak with Consul Robud Imbert, which led to the door being knocked down and a deployment of Carabineros. The ADN radio has reported that the incident ended with arrests. A Carabineros major clarified on Canal 13 that “this was not a takeover” and explained that what happened was due to the delay in the procedure and the protesters’ uncertainty about the delivery of their documents.
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According to testimonies collected by ADN, some Haitian citizens claim to have paid between 300,000 Chilean pesos (328 dollars) and 500,000 pesos (546 dollars) for certificates that later turned out to be invalid or never arrived at their destination. Jimmy Jean-Philippe, one of the protesters cited by that media outlet, questioned the functioning of the consular system and stated that the problem directly affects families who need to keep their migratory documentation valid.
Antoine framed the episode within a broader deterioration of the conditions of the Haitian community in Chile: he said that the lack of regularization “produces misery, violation of rights, discrimination,” and emphasized that about six out of ten Haitians in Chile financially support family members who remain in their home country, at a time when the sociopolitical crisis combines, according to him, with a growing unemployment rate and a deterioration of the mental health of his compatriots.
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