As Chile heads into its presidential election on Sunday, voters are gripped not by economic reform or social policy, but by crime, immigration, and organised gangs—a dramatic shift from the left-wing optimism that defined the previous cycle.
Chileans say their biggest worry now is security. According to an October survey by Ipsos, 63 % of respondents in Chile cited crime as their top concern—placing the country second out of 30 surveyed nations, including Mexico, Colombia and South Africa.
Despite Chile remaining one of Latin America’s safer nations, the murder rate has more than doubled since 2015—from 2.32 per 100,000 in 2015 to about 6.0 in 2024. Kidnappings hit a new high in 2024, reaching 868, with roughly 40% tied to organised crime.
Much of this surge is concentrated along Chile’s northern desert borderlands with Peru and Bolivia, where a wave of mostly Venezuelan migrants has entered the country. The figure jumped from 82,998 in 2017 to 669,408 in 2024.
Local residents, in towns such as Colchane, once left doors unlocked; now they tell of break-ins, robberies and even the murder of an 85-year-old woman in recent months.
The migration debate has become entwined with the security one—85.2 % of Chileans said they felt socially distanced from Venezuelans by 2025, up from 55.2 % in 2019.
At the heart of the organised crime story is the trans-national gang known as Tren de Aragua. Originally from Venezuela, it has established cells across Chile. Authorities say its crimes include extortion, contract killings, kidnapping, torture—and a network that spans banking secrecy and money-laundering.
Officials say they have arrested hundreds of its members and recently targeted its financial operations as an essential next step to cracking organised crime.
In the run-up to Sunday’s vote, right-wing candidates are emphasising tougher enforcement, stricter border controls and heavy-handed strategies against gangs and irregular migration. Meanwhile the current administration rejects purely punitive approaches and argues for legal reform, increased prosecution capacity and banking transparency.
With policing and public safety climbing to the top of the electoral agenda, Chile’s election has become a referendum on how to contain a wave of violent crime once largely unheard of in the country.
During his first state visit to the UK in 27 years, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Britain to move past Brexit and focus on rebuil...
Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili is participating in the 32nd OSCE Ministerial Council holding from 3rd to 5th December in Vienna....
A major incident has been declared in the English city of Derby after police evacuated around 200 homes and arrested two men on suspicion of explosive...
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Elina Valtonen told the press that "the end of the conflict between Azerbaijan and...
Tensions between Georgia and Russia resurfaced this week after Moscow declared it sees “no preconditions” for renewing political dialogue, blaming...
Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili is participating in the 32nd OSCE Ministerial Council holding from 3rd to 5th December in Vienna.
A major incident has been declared in the English city of Derby after police evacuated around 200 homes and arrested two men on suspicion of explosives offences.
Tensions between Georgia and Russia resurfaced this week after Moscow declared it sees “no preconditions” for renewing political dialogue, blaming Tbilisi’s insistence on de-occupation.
Iran launched naval manoeuvre in its southern waters on Thursday as it concluded on the hosting the joint counter-terrorism drills of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
For nearly three decades following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the international system was defined by a singular, overwhelming reality: American unipolarity.
Chinese scientists have unveiled a new gene-editing therapy that they say could lead to a functional cure for HIV, making it one of the most promising developments in decades of global research.
As the year comes to an end, a new initiative bringing civil society actors and regional analysts from Armenia and Azerbaijan together is steadily gaining ground.
Faced with mounting public outrage following one of the deadliest environmental disasters in the nation’s recent history, the Indonesian government has pledged to investigate and potentially shut down mining operations found to have contributed to the catastrophic flooding on Sumatra.
Uzbekistan has reopened its border with Afghanistan for the first time since 2021, the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on Tuesday.
During his first state visit to the UK in 27 years, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Britain to move past Brexit and focus on rebuilding its relationship with Europe.
A major incident has been declared in the English city of Derby after police evacuated around 200 homes and arrested two men on suspicion of explosives offences.
Britain has imposed new sanctions on Russia, targeting the entire GRU military intelligence agency, which was highlighted in a UK public inquiry into the 2018 poisoning of Dawn Sturgess, caused by the nerve agent Novichok.
Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has said distanced the Afghan government from recent incidents involving Afghan nationals on U.S. soil.
Russia has warned that any "illegal action" by the European Union regarding its frozen assets will provoke "the harshest reaction," with Moscow already preparing its response.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment