Chile is not “in a position” to accept more Venezuelan migrants, says Boric at the UN

Chile is “no longer in a position to receive more migration” from Venezuela, President Gabriel Boric said on Tuesday before the UN General Assembly, after criticizing the sanctions of the United States that, according to him, are pushing Venezuelans to flee their country.

“The economic sanctions hit the Venezuelan people more than their current rulers. They hit the humble, the workers,” added the Chilean president.

According to Boric, the economic punishment “combines” with the political crisis and together “they have pushed more than seven million Venezuelans into exile.”

“Of which about 800,000 are in Chile. And out of responsibility I must be clear on this point: Chile is not in a position to receive more migration,” he emphasized during his speech at the United Nations headquarters.

The leftist leader became one of the harshest critics of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and along with other Latin American leaders, they reject his recent re-election, considering it fraudulent.

Boric again referred to Maduro’s government as a “dictatorship” and advocated for a “peaceful transition to democracy.”

At the same time, he called on the US authorities to “lift the economic sanctions that (…) only cause more poverty in the people and not in the dictators.”

“As I have personally told President (Joe) Biden, they do not help solve the conflict, but on the contrary, they aggravate it,” he said.

The UN Security Council is made up of 15 countries, where 10 of them rotate every two years. The only permanent members are China, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States.

“Human institutions depend on the will of their leaders, us. And those that are not able to adapt to their times are at risk of collapsing,” Boric said.

“Human institutions depend on the will of their leaders, us. And those that are not able to adapt to their times are at risk of collapsing,” Boric said.