Marleni Jojoi, 45, arrived in Chile in 2015 from Colombia. She says that the first motivation she had to emigrate, completely alone, was get a job that would allow her to provide a better quality of life for her two daughters. Something that he mightn’t find in his country. Today, with two jobs – one as a saleswoman and the other as a home consultant – she explains that every end of the month, almost like a “ritual”, she walks around the Plaza de Armas in Santiago in search of an exchange house to send money. to the family he left behind in his country.
“I always try to find the agency that has the lowest rates, so they don’t charge me as much for shipping. But these last two months I have not been able to do it, because the dollar has risen and that has forced me to suspend the remittances destined for my girls’ education, university and food.”, He argues.
The situation affecting Marlene It is explained by high inflation and the abrupt rise of the dollar, which last week exceeded the barrier of one thousand.
“Before inflation, I sent 400 thousand Chilean pesos to Colombia, which in Colombian pesos was almost two million. But now with the rise of the dollar, those 400,000 have become only one million Colombian pesos. This forces me to send double the money from Chile. In other words, from my salary of 650,000 pesos, I now need to allocate $800,000 per month that I had not budgeted. How am I going to survive here in Chile, if apart from sending money I also need to pay for a roof over my head to live and eat? That is why, with much regret, I limited myself to not sending anything, ”he explains.
A similar reality is what lives Amarilis González, 33-year-old Dominican. Despite the fact that she has technical studies in computer secretary, she got a job in Chile as a home counselor with a family from Colina. Before the rise of the dollar, she comments that every 5th of the month she sent around 350,000 pesos to her son and daughter in the Dominican Republic, equivalent to 20,000 Dominican pesos. Today, on the other hand, due to local economic turmoil and the rise in Western Union rates – where she makes transfers – she has had to add 200,000 pesos more to remittances.
I always try to find the agency that has the lowest shipping rates. These last two months I have not succeeded, the dollar rose and forced me to suspend remittances
Marleni Jojoi, Colombian
“Things have been difficult for a while. My salary of 600,000 pesos is not enough to live on and that is why now I am looking for another job on the weekends to reward something else, because apart from sending money I also have to pay my rent in São Paulo and my needs here. Money does not yield, it is not enough, ”she confesses.
Marleni and Amaryllis They are part of the 1,462,103 migrants in Chile, according to the latest survey by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) delivered in July 2021, who have seen their daily lives affected by inflation and the rise in the dollar. According to Marcela Tapiadirector of the doctorate “Cross-Border Studies” of the Institute of International Studies (Inte) of the Arturo Prat University, it is a worrying situation.
“Just as the rise in the dollar affects Chileans, it affects the migrant population in the same way or more, especially the one that has arrived in the context of a pandemic (…). Remittances are important at the migratory level in general, since they are a promise that foreigners assume. Most of them emigrate looking for work for greater well-being and also to fulfill commitments with relatives who remain in the country of origin”, he assures.
Despite the fact that this week there was a brake on the rise of the dollar (yesterday it closed at $956) After the intervention of the Central Bank, part of the migrant community maintains that although these are “well-intentioned measures” they would not have immediate effects. “I have not seen these solutions applied to exchange houses. I go by the companies every day, in the morning and in the followingnoon, to see if the prices and rates have gone down, and that’s not the case, even shipments have gone up 20% more. I feel bad regarding this hike, because I can’t go back to my country, things are very bad there. And here I still suffer, because I have to work more than normal, even food and rent went up,” he says. Jean Sweetnessa 37-year-old Haitian migrant who works as a head inspector at Red Bus Urbano.
I feel bad regarding this hike, because I can’t go back to my country; things are very bad there. I still suffer here, because I have to work more, even food and rent went up
Jean Doucer, Haitian
This new scenario for migrants in Chile has led some to rethink their permanence and projections in Chilemainly because they fear that the local economic scenario will worsen and plunge them back into a crisis similar to the one that led them to emigrate the first time.
Such is the case of Andreina Jean, 22-year-old Venezuelan, who arrived in Chile four months ago from Colombia, to work as a stylist in one of the galleries in the Plaza de Armas. Her decision to leave Colombian territory was because “The situation there was very similar to what is happening today with the dollar here in Chile”he comments, “and as one goes out in search of improvement, one sets out on an adventure until he finds a stable place, where he can grow both personally and financially,” he adds.
Against the sky-high dollar -and the price of remittance commissions-, Andreina assures that she has considered going out “to seek luck” in another country: “Since I saw the dollar on the rise, I felt that at any moment it was going to happen like in Venezuela or Colombia. That is scary, it is terrifying, but I would do anything to continue having money and thus send remittances to my two children in Venezuela.”
Something similar has crossed the mind of Amarylliswhich explains that if inflation shows better figures and the economy stabilizes “In one or two months, I am leaving Chile. I have thought of the United States or Europe, but not in a country within Latin America, but in another where we have more opportunities to emerge without being so affected”he emphasizes.
Since I saw the dollar on the rise, I felt that at any moment it was going to happen like in Venezuela or Colombia. That’s scary, it’s terrifying
Andreina Jean, Venezuelan
Nevertheless, Juan Bravodirector of the Observatory of the Economic Context (Ocec) of the Diego Portales University, maintains that this alternative “it wouldn’t make much sense”taking into account the global economic outlook in recent months, as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine, added to the pandemic. “It is necessary to consider here that the depreciation with respect to the dollar is a generalized phenomenon. The euro is at a 20-year low once morest the dollar; It is not something that is happening only in Chile, so it does not make much sense to say I am leaving the country because the exchange rate once morest the dollar is depreciating. If they go to other economies in the region, or even other more developed ones, the same phenomenon will be happening.”, he stresses.
Marita Becerraa 44-year-old Peruvian, also admits that in recent times she has had economic difficulties, but it differs with the idea of leaving Chile. “It is a country that has given me many opportunities since I arrived in 2017. I had been starting from a debt situation in Peru, where with luck I might feed my son and support myself,” she says. But then she agrees that the economic situation in Chile has had repercussions on the “monetary help” that she sends through remittances to her university son and his mother, both in Peru.
“With the salary that I make taking care of a girl on weekends, plus the daily money that I earn as a clothing seller at Central Station, before the great inflation I sent $120,000 pesos a week to my family.. And now, with the rise in the exchange rate, I have had to reduce the fee to only 50,000 Chilean pesos, which in Peru is equivalent to regarding 200 soles. That is equal to three days of food, buying only rice, noodles and oil. It’s all I can give you. My day to day is not enough for more, ”she laments.
Before, I used to send 120 thousand pesos a week to my family. And now with the increase I have had to reduce the fee to only $50,000. It’s all I can give you
Marita Becerra, Peruvian
Margaret Vidal, a 25-year-old Colombian, quit her job as a stylist in the Alberto Hurtado commune and signed up as a street vendor. “I arrived from Colombia five years ago and before the pandemic my salary was the minimum, and with that I might live in peace. But following the arrival of Covid, my job as a hairdresser was ruined and I had to sell on the street to send money to my sisters and family in my native country”, she says.
He also comments that the itinerant work -in addition to helping a neighbor attend to her business on weekends- has allowed him to continue sending remittances to Colombia, through the company Afex. However, with the rise of the dollar and the decision by the Municipality of Santiago to ban informal trade, it sees its future as “uncertain”. “Honestly, panic has taken over me. But in any case, I will not give up, I will continue to manage for a better life for myself and for my family”, he concludes.