Migration crisis as hundreds stranded at Peru-Chile border
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A migration crisis at the border between Chile and Peru is intensifying, with hundreds of people stranded, unable to cross into Peru in an effort to return to their home country of Venezuela. The mostly Venezuelan migrants are seeking to cross into Peru to continue on to their home country but Peru isn’t allowing them to enter because they lack documents. Officials in the Chilean border city of Arica declared a migration emergency Thursday. While stranded at the border of the two South American countries, the migrants face the inhospitable climate that characterizes the Atacama Desert, one of the driest on the planet, with extremely hot days and intensely cold nights. Some have improvised tents with blankets but they lack water and other basic services.