In Search of the Chilean Paradise: Peruvians in Chile Forge a Community
Ortega, Seledad
"This area is full of Peruvians. They are everywhere, these dirty Indians that stand "on the street all day. They lean on our shop windows and keep the clients away from our stores. It would be...
...This tendency is a product of a strong authoritarianism in the way people are socialized...
...From the beginning, many Chileans have viewed this new and explosive process of migration with suspicion...
...Increased unemployment, in particular, has led the poorest sectors to feel threatened by the cheaper labor that immigrant workers are willing to offer...
...The increasing xenophobia was apparent last March 27, when after the World Cup qualifying victory of the Peruvian national soccer team over Chile, many Peruvians who were in the center of the city were verbally and even physically accosted by angry Chilean fans...
...5 At the same time, Peruvians who work in the area complained in the press that they were victims of hostility and discrimination and that the problems of coexistence had been exaggerated by the media...
...One comes here under the illusion that one can do economically better, just like Chileans who go to Europe or to Argentina...
...I have seen a Chilean mestizo calling a Peruvian a 'damn cholo.' One must also not forget that the War of the Pacific [late nineteenth century war in which Chile occupied and defeated Peru and Bolivia] is still a factor because Chileans suspect that [Peruvians] don't like us very much," says Tomis Moulian...
...Imagine, in a country where the majority of Chilean workers work withVol XXXV, No 2 SEPTEMBER/OCrOBER 2001 19 Vol XXXV, No 2 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001 19REPORT ON RACE AND MIGRATION Peruvian immigrants at one of the many calling centers in downtown Santiago...
...Like the majority of her compatriots, Ana refuses to return to Peru, and she keeps the reality of her situation from her family "because I do not want to go back empty-handed and I don't want to make them worry...
...I used to go more frequently a year ago...
...When I asked for the money they owed me, they threw me out with nothing...
...They never gave me a contract and when I would complain, they called me ungrateful and lazy...
...Over the last three years, businesses have opened that cater to Peruvian immigrants, such as telephone calling centers and Peruvian restaurants...
...The ex-consul threatened him that he must not say anything about his experience or he would have him arrested...
...The hordes of PERUVIANS who swarm around these streets are responsible for vandalism, lack of culture and shady business dealings...
...From the outside, Chile seemed stable and prosperous...
...Even if life on the frontier wasn't characterized by perpetual war, there was and continues to be a problem with the indigenous population...
...In Search of the Chilean Paradise 1. Author's interview, Santiago, June 7, 2001...
...Mario has been in Chile for eight months and lives in a small rented room in Santiago's center...
...This year we had more than 40 meetings, whereas with the former chief we never met once, despite the fact that we had been requesting an interview for years," says the lawyer, who refers to gration between the two communities...
...The Committee calculates that since 1994, 10,000 Peruvians have arrived in Chile each year, many of them undocumented, making it urgent to generate networks of solidarity and encourage tolerance and inteDomestic workers may have always been treated badly, but the nana's experience makes the racial dimensions of Chilean society all the more apparent...
...The only difference is that the Peruvians are more defenseless as far as their legal situations-the majority are undocumented...
...It would be better if they went back to their country and stopped coming to take away our jobs," comments a salesclerk at a bookstore on central Santiago's Cathedral Street...
...They tried to keep my passport and even threatened to call the police and tell them I was a thief...
...Peruvian businessmen have taken advantage of the opportunity, as have some Chileans, who see the immigrant community as a viable market...
...I was very scared, so I just left...
...always fired after a couple of months because the employers want to avoid having to give her a contract...
...The workshops are not only aimed at organizing immigrants, but also at creating consciousness among the Chileans who work and circulate in the sector and do not always maintain the best relations with their new neighbors...
...In Chile, "domestic workers have always been treated in a demeaning manner...
...And they certainly would like to be treated well when they get there, not like the way many here treat us," says Mario, who has also had to suffer labor abuses...
...Chilean labor law dictates that workers must be put under contract after three months at a company...
...We see in Peruvians our own indigenous heritage...
...The economic situation there is truly deplorable, I had a good job, but as things are now, I opted for leaving my wife and children and trying my luck in Chile...
...Last March 16, a group of 350 shop owners and apartment residents of Catedral Street sent a letter to the mayor of Santiago, Joaqufn Lavin, of the right wing Democratic Independent Union (UDI), in which, using strong language, they rejected the presence of Peruvians in the neighborhood...
...If it's that way with the Chilean ones, then I don't see why it wouldn't be the same with the Peruvian ones...
...6 What advances have resulted from that measure is uncertain...
...According to Rodolfo Noriega, a lawyer with the Peruvian Refugee Committee in Chile, "Most of the cases we get are cases of labor abuse involving Peruvian domestic workers...
...There are worse cases of sexual abuse or of withholdu 0 a ing their documents...
...The authorities also avoid referring to people as illegal, in what could be read as an advance in this complex situation...
...Although the majority of the Peruvian immigrants are employed as domestic workers-the women known as "nanas" in Chile, the men as gardeners or ruana"-the guards for wealthy homeswith time they have diversisemaid-has fied their occupations...
...The bulk of the work involves cases of labor abuse and legalization of immigration status," says Noriega, "most people come to us with expired visas or deportation orders...
...Ana Visquez says that she has been there several times, as well as to the other discotheque where Peruvians gather, El Charlie, in the working class neighborhood of Recoleta...
...She confesses that she went there because she felt lonely, and adds that in her hometown of Trujillo she probably would have never gone to places like El Conga and El Charlie...
...Ana's experiences in Chile are similar to those of other Peruvian immigrants...
...I remember that on my first job in Chile, my coworkers would tease me and say 'Peruvian, did you come to take the Hudscar?' (an allusion to the famous Peruvian ship that was sunk during the War of the Pacific...
...4. Author's interview, Santiago, June 7, 2001...
...As Chileans we reject mestizaje because we do not recognize ourselves as mestizos, we see ourselves as white," notes sociologist Tomds Moulian...
...Mario Collantes gives a powerful testimony to this: "A few days ago I found a Peruvian sleeping in the street and he asked me for money...
...In fact, the majority of the businesses in the area are calling centers and message services...
...Or they would say, 'So many Peruvians are in Chile...
...One can find typical products from that Andean country, such as the popular soda, Inca Kola, and different types of chiles, sauces, dried corn kernels and other Peruvian foods...
...Not only that, they are proud of their origins, while we are ashamed...
...Stories like this reach the Committee of Peruvian Refugees in Chile everyday...
...Restaurants that offer typical Peruvian food at modest prices have multiplied...
...When the work was finished, he was fired and given only $8 to go back to Santiago...
...22 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 22REPORT ON RACE AND MIGRATION Joaquin Lavin met with representatives of Chileans and Peruvians a few days after a rally held by the neighborhood shop owners and residents on March 23, with the goal of organizing a roundtable for discussion...
...Many Chileans take advantage of the low prices and the chance to taste Peruvian gastronomic specialties...
...From the inside, Chile showed a much harsher face...
...He worked three months getting only a portion of beans and bread, nothing else, and every month he was assured that he would "undocumented immigrants," avoiding the term "illegal...
...A large sector of society has always shown feelings of superiority to and rejection of Peruvian, Ecuadorian and Bolivian people...
...out a contract, that a foreigner obtains a written and signed contract with a clause that requires the employer to pay for airfare or bus fare for the employee and his/her family to return to their country...
...To go out dancing with friends was a way to evade all the problems of the week," says Ana...
...6. "Lavin dialoga con peruanos," Las Oitimas Noticias (Santiago), March 25, 2001...
...Despite all the negative experiences, Mario stresses that he has felt welcomed by the majority of Chileans and that the discrimination that he has experienced has come from co-workers who "did not have a high level of migrants is education...
...The new immigrants go there in search of compatriots with whom to share their troubles in the country to which they reluctantly came to escape the dire economic situation in Peru...
...In the end, my boss fired me and did not pay me...
...For TomBs Moulian, being overqualified is the source of great frustration that exacerbates Peruvians' problems of integration...
...For the past few years, the place has provided a space for socializing, for which the restaurant El Conga, located off Catedral Street, stands out...
...The popular sectors' fear of labor displacement is one of them...
...This has to do with the northern hemisphere's Western superiority complex, which sees itself as the center of the world and views dark people as barbarians...
...If you go to the Barandarian, an exclusive Peruvian restaurant in Santiago where the owner is Peruvian, as are all of his workers, you will see that the salaries are extremely low and only 10% of the employees are under contract," says Noriega...
...Moulian points out, however, that the bad treatment denounced by Peruvian domestic workers is not exclusively towards them...
...But I don't want to say that it is a huge problem...
...The many Peruvians who wander around the area day and night are not only attracted there by the shopping...
...The organization functions out of a small and precarious office near the Plaza de Armas and in less than three years of existence has served approximately 3,500 clients...
...2. "A celebrar en la Plaza de Armas," Las Oltimas Noticias (Santiago), March 28, 2001...
...2 His statement reflects how Peruvian immigration has become part of the public agenda, a fact that is unfortunately marked by racism and discrimination...
...According to Noriega, "Many of the Peruvians who work in Chile are overqualified for the jobs they take on...
...The following day, Minister of the Interior Jos6 Miguel Insulza, called on citizens to "maintain a correct attitude towards Peruvian residents in the country...
...For the sociologist Sergio Valdes, another reason behind Chileans' racism towards Peruvians has to do with Chileans' "mental structure of intolerance...
...We have a very good relationship with the head of the department, Nicolds Torrealba...
...But if we consider that there are some 60,000 Peruvians in Chile, we have only bettered the situation of 5% of our compatriots," notes the Committee's lawyer, Noriega...
...The experience of the "nana peruana" is making the racial dimensions of Chilean society and class structure more visible...
...Valdes also believes that Chileans do not see themselves as mestizos "but feel more European, so they are Discriminati Andean imr increasingly d economic cri battered Chile alienated by everything that reminds them of their indigenous origins...
...In Lima, an ex-consul who I would rather not identify contracted him to work on his farmland in the south of Chile...
...The organization currently has links to different non-governmental organizations and institutions such as Committee in Defense of the People (CODEPU), Christian Churches' Social Assistance Foundation (FASIC), and the Bolivarian University, with which it runs the First School of Labor Law for Domestic Workers...
...Since we are dreaming of whiteness we reject darker skin...
...Ana had met her friends on one of her first Sunday outings to the Plaza de Armas...
...After all, one is much more traditional there for certain things, and even if it's hard for me to say this, it doesn't correspond to my social class...
...The Committee has programs in health care and psychological guidance, but most of the immigrants and refugees come for legal assistance...
...In Chile," continues Moulian, "the unity of the leading class was achieved much earlier than in other countries and the struggle with the Mapuches (the main original ethnic group of the country) lasted for centuries...
...It's very difficult to be far from home and living under these conditions...
...This explains why European communities are received so well, while immigrants from other places, such as Palestini20NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 0 20 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICASREPORT ON RACE AND MIGRATION ans and Koreans-two communities that have a strong presence in Chile-are also discriminated against...
...She left a teachertraining course in Lima and moved to Chile three years ago, in search of better economic opportunities...
...They made me work on my day off, and later even restricted my food...
...3 He attributes this to the country's cultural identity having been constructed on the basis of the rejection of the indigenous population...
...Peruvians came to the Plaza de Armas for very traditional reasons, as they get together in the plazas of every city," remembers Noriega...
...Mario, a graduate in history, and Ana, the young woman who worked as a nana despite her training as a teacher, are also victims of another phenomenon at the root of the wave of immigration caused by economic crisis-they are professionally overqualified...
...I realize I did not formally complain, and now I see it as an experience that allowed me to learn about Chile's labor system...
...be paid the following month...
...She persists in her goal because, after all, the money she earns-most of which she sends to her childrenis more than she would make in Peru...
...3. Author's interview, Santiago, June 13, 2001...
...I The organization originated in 1998 to defend the rights of these mostly undocumented immigrants...
...The Chilean lower classes harbor strong negative feelings towards Peruvian immigrants...
...Unlike other Latin American countries, the indigenous population of Chile was not integrated into the socio-political construction of the new nation after the Spanish conquest, and this transformed the indigenous question into a continual problem throughout the centuries...
...Besides, he said that no one would believe his story...
...Since the mid-1990s, when the presence of Peruvian immigrants in Chile became visible and began to be the subject of public comment, the Plaza de Armas has been the obligatory destination for incoming Peruvians...
...Ana's friends took her in and today they share a room in an old building in western Santiago...
...That intolerance gets expressed in many ways: One of them is in racism towards Peruvians...
...ture...
...The only Peruvians enjoying their day off noticeable infraction may be the use of illegally altered cell phones to call Peru at discount rates...
...With the help of lawyers and students, one weekend out of every month the groups hold an orientation and legal support workshop in the heart of "Little Lima...
...These clubs mostly play music called "chicha," which is a mix of "technocumbia" and Andean music...
...Following that logic, Germans, Croatians and Hungarians that have come to this country have been well received and are admired by most people...
...But I don't judge them...
...Ana lize the plight has worked as a waitress and a salesperson sporadically, but n community she has not been able to maintain a steady job-she is iile...
...these abuses are easily perpetrated due to the precarious situation of the majority of immigrants...
...That is why the issue of racism should be part riven by the of a public education camsis that has paign to increase everyone's level of tolerance and cule since 1999...
...In talking with Peruvians in the area, Ana's experience is not uncommon...
...I tolerated it for a year and then I decided to leave...
...It is open Saturday night and Sunday afternoons, as a way to take advantage of the only day off most of these immigrants have...
...I had been recommended for the job and I The "nana pe was supposed to get paid Peruvian hob approximately $200 per come to symb month, which at the beginning, I did...
...hile presents a particular duality when it comes to its attitude toward foreigners: The immigration of European whites has always been positively regarded, whereas the immigration of Latin Americans, specifically from countries with a large indigenous population, has been feared and rejected...
...Businesses with names such as "Mundo Anditel," "FonoPerd," and "Perd Servicios Courier" offer flashy deals to call or send packages to not only Peru, but Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina...
...Now, less than a decade later, the Department of Immigration estimates that approximately 60,000 Peruvian immigrants reside in Chile...
...4 Other factors trigger this chauvinism...
...I asked him what had happened and he told me he had been in Chile for five months and that he was a mechanic...
...During the week it is open for lunch, but on the weekends it transforms into a lively discotheque...
...That is why she is once again wandering around Catedral Street and Plaza de Armas: Every Peruvian knows that when someone is looking to hire them, that is where they go...
...That is why the majority of them plan to return to Peru...
...She hoped to be able to return to Peru in a few months and had left her two children in the care of her mother...
...So the Peruvians are not only rejected for being foreign, a fact that is rooted in xenophobia, but also for being mestizo...
...Peruvian restaurant opened, then a service to send money and now there are about 40 businesses catering to the Peruvian immigrants, the discotheque El Conga being the best known...
...It is no longer a problem of xenophobia," continues the letter, "this has become a focus of filth, vagrancy, prostitution, drug dealing, etc., which leads to CITIZEN INSECURITY...
...As Noriega points out, in Chile's flexible labor market, Chilean workers suffer the same employment insecurity as immigrant workers...
...But shortly after, the of the Peruvil family got behind in paying my wages, paying me $80 per in C month, or sometimes nothing...
...this one also sells food products from Peru...
...That is how it has been, ever since world began," reflects Ana Vasquez...
...As these immigrants, under precarious economic conditions, struggle for a better future, the figure of the "nana peruana" has emerged as the symbol of the Peruvian community in Chile...
...the only concrete step taken by the municipality has been to permanently station a squad car on the corner of Catedral and Puente Streets...
...Peruvians are much more conservative than Chileans and many of them have become lax in their manners...
...5. The Peruvian Refugee Committee in Chile provided the author with a copy of the original letter...
...Only economic reasons keep them here...
...This entire area was very economically depressed five years ago, even though some Chilean businessmen deny it...
...Behind this explosive increase lies a new social reality that has been developing alongside Chilean xenophobia...
...Of the Peruvians that come to Chile, thousands are well received, but there are hundreds who suffer these problems, something that simply should not occur...
...it is a much more general phenomenon...
...In the past few years, discriminatory acts against this wave of immigrants from the Andean countries have been increasing, driven, in part, by the economic crisis that has battered Chile since 1999...
...that is practically impossible to get," says the lawyer...
...But none of her hopes have been realized: "When I had just arrived in Chile, I found a job as a domestic worker with a family in Las Condes," a wealthy neighborhood of Santiago...
...I am sure that many people that employ Peruvian nanas are bothered by the fact that they speak such good Spanish and can be more educated than they are...
...He says he has perceived a change of attitude over the last year-a change corresponding to the government of Ricardo Lagos-among the Immigration Department officials...
...It has to do with the supremacy of the white part of Europe over its dark part...
...The letter said, "...we demand that measures be taken to protect our families, our economy, our culture...
...Translated from the Spanish by NACLA...
...a 18 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICASREPORT ON RACE AND MIGRATION dral Street with two of her friends...
...Considering that the elite classes think of their servants as inferior, it does not surprise me that they defraud them and don't pay them...
...His opinion is shared by many Chileans who work in or pass through this sector of the city, now known as "Little Lima" because of its large number of businesses that cater to the new wave of Peruvian immigrants in Chile...
...The former are misnamed "Turks," while the latter are generically labelled "chinos...
...In fact, the last woman I helped this morning had worked for a month in a private home and got fired without getting a cent," continues Noriega...
...These racist attitudes, however, are not comparable to what the Peruvian people in Chile suffer...
...But abuse of workers is not limited to Chilean employers...
...He is currently the manager of a Peruvian restaurant called "Victoria," but is trying to start a commercial sign business, something he was doing in Peru until the economic crisis there impelled him to move to Chile...
...The last Chilean census in 1992 revealed that 7,500 Peruvians were then living in that country...
...For these same reasons, along the street named for the presence of the country's main Catholic church, between the streets Bandera and Puente, "Little Lima" has emerged...
...Twenty-three-year-old Ana Vdzquez, is roaming the streets of Santiago between Plaza de Armas and Cate18 NAt2LA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS Soledad Ortega is a journalist based in Santiago who reports on social and cultural issues...
...It's incredible how they come to take away our jobs,"' remembers Mario Collantes, a 45-year-old immigrant from Trujillo with a background in journalism and history...
...Despite the fact that the Committee was originally intended to support only the 300 Peruvian political refugees in Chile, in a short time its mandate was expanded to include all immigrants from the Andean countries...
...When I first got to Chile I started to work at an aluminum company where I worked for three months...
...First, a at the popular Santiago discotheque El Charlie...
...Vol XXXV, No 2 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001 21 Vol XXXV, No 2 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001 21REPORT ON RACE AND MIGRATION "On top of the racism, which is terrible and strong, there is the issue that the rich will always try to take advantage of the poor, even more so if they are in difficulty...
...They aim to help Peruvian nanas, as well as Chilean ones, avoid labor abuse...
...The writers of the letter propose the relocation of these immigrants so they "don't interfere with this area, so that our clients, family members, children won't see the unfortunate spectacle of people sitting on the ground eating, or sitting around our cathedral in the heart of Santiago-things that even the poorest and most miserable Chilean doesn't do...
...The majority of the harsh accusations made in the letter (drug dealing and vandalism, among others) have not been proven...
...Among domestic workers, on average, 70% have completed high school and 30% have some university education...
Vol. 35 • September 2001 • No. 2
