Chile is currently in the process of electing a President. The first round was inconclusive, and the second will take place tomorrow, December 17th. The two candidates are the former President Sebastian Piñera and the newcomer to politics Alejandro Guillier, who belongs to a coalition that includes the party of current President Michelle Bachelet.

This election is not irrelevant to the migrant population in Chile, who I will be studying, the Peruvian one in particular. They are the largest migrant population with over 100.000 people, roughly one third of all migrants. They are also highly visible being present in the main urban space. My fieldsite is going to be Pequeña Lima (Little Lima), as it came to be known in the last years, which is a very lively area in Santiago, full of Peruvian restaurants, Peruvian product shops with colorful advertisings and Peruvian people hanging around. As also happens in other countries in South America, migrants are usually the recipients of negative stereotypes, the most common being the accusation that they are stealing jobs from the local population. The two presidential candidates, erring on the side of caution, have only made broad statements about migration policies.

The uncertainties and concerns of Peruvian migrants in Chile can be seen in their local newspaper Contigo Perú (Peru is with you). Even though last editorial does not show any obvious support to any particular candidate, it calls for a responsible attitude: “we represent in concrete terms what it means to be a migrant. […] we must then turn ourselves into referents of what it means to be a good migrant”. The electorate expects visible changes to follow from such elections. The status of the migrant is at stake and this newspaper presents a proud Peruvian community that is up to the challenge. This will be the context for my work among migrants in Santiago de Chile.

Let’s see what happens in the next two years.