“Our apologies, we know we are invading”. Border control regime, clandestinity and “coyotaje” in Colchane, Chile (2010-2022)

Abstract

The article investigates the tensions on the border between Bolivia and Chile generated by the massive arrival of migrants from northern South America, in particular Venezuela, and the Caribbean during the last decade and in particular since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the second half of 2021 and throughout 2022, ethnographic research was conducted in the strategically-located towns of Colchane (Chile) and Pisiga Bolívar (Bolivia) in the Andean highlands. The investigation suggested that the mechanisms of border control, characterized by militarization and a focus on national security, did not fulfill its intended purposes of controlling irregular entry. Rather, it stimulated migrant smuggling (coyotaje) and created conditions of extreme vulnerability over the course of fifteen years, due to a centrist approach to decision making. The article also argues that these measures did not take into account the needs of the local Indigenous population, thus creating harm to the coexistence and cross-border practices of Aymara communities. Instead, the implementation of the border security policies reproduced dynamics of xenophobia and aporophobia.