
Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font Tuesday signed into law the Anti-Drug Trafficking Bill changing the penal code for drug traffickers and tackling the money trail behind these operations.

José Antonio Kast's far-right Republican Party Sunday scored a resounding victory in the elections to form the 50-member council which will draft a new Constitution for Chile after last year's reformed text was turned down by 62% of the votes in a referendum.

Venezuelan authorities Sunday flew back 115 migrants who were stranded in northern Chile through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland Plan), it was announced by Caracas. The Foreign Ministry said on Twitter that: “115 Venezuelan men and women are happily returning to their homes thanks to a new day of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria,” an initiative in force since 2018.

Over 15 million Chileans are to vote Sunday in order to form the 50-member body to draft a new Constitution with which to replace the one stemming from the Augusto Pinochet military regime after the previous project was massively turned down in a referendum in September last. Voting is mandatory and fines are imposed on those who cannot justify their omission.

Chile's National Economic Prosecution threw out a request to begin an investigation into the hike of air travel to Punta Arenas, decided by Latam Airlines. It is highly unlikely to verify a conduct of excessive prices taking into account the many verification standards of such an incompetitiveness crime, points out the resolution.

The Chilean Navy and the country's National Fisheries Service, Sernapesca, reported that they are keeping track of the devastating Chinese fleet sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans and currently sailing north along the Chilean coast line, after ending its squid season.

Chile's monthly economic activity indicator, Imacec, contracted in March 2,1% compared to the same month in 2022, according to the latest report from the country's Central Bank. The indicator is located in the pessimist area of analysts' expectations who were anticipating a drop of minus 1,7% to minus 2%, following the latest reports of industrial production and commerce activity during March. This is also the second-month running contraction and the largest fall since last November when the Chilean economy collapsed minus 3,3%.

Venezuela's Foreign Ministry started talks with its Chilean and Peruvian counterparts to coordinate flights whereby migrants stranded on the border between these two countries can be flown back to Caracas, it was reported.

The Peruvian Government of President Dina Boluarte Friday sent troops to the southern region of Tacna, bordering Chile, to support the National Police (PNP) handle the migrant crisis, Defense Minister Jorge Chávez announced.

Peru's Foreign Ministry Thursday Chilean ambassador Óscar Fuentes as thousands of Venezuelan migrants are trying to cross into the country from the southern border to “protest for the lack of collaboration shown by the Chilean police authorities, which has generated the events that occurred today” when a group tried to force their way into the country and circumvent the police checkpoints.