Mob attacked Juan Jiménez Ninaja and José Díaz Ninaja, who had collected seaweed in region for years, amid debate over surge in migration

Two Peruvian brothers are recovering in hospital in the Chilean city of Antofagasta after being doused with petrol and set alight by a mob of Chilean fishermen in the port city of Tocopilla.

Juan Jiménez Ninaja and José Díaz Ninaja were left with second- and third-degree burns to over half their bodies after the attack. The two brothers had collected seaweed in the region for five years, helping to supply a multimillion-dollar aquaculture export industry. Mainly shipped to Japan, China and France, the plants are used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals as well as being eaten.

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The incident took place amid an increasingly heated debate over the recent surge in migration to Chile, mainly from other Latin American and Caribbean countries, and growing racial tensions in the Antofagasta region.

According to Elizabeth Andrade, a Peruvian social worker and one of the leaders of a migrant squatter camp in the city of Antofagasta, the attack was triggered by competition between seaweed collectors.



The brothers had received threats over the last few months and were in the process of clearing out their hut to leave Tocopilla when they were set upon, Andrade said.



In recent years, 64 camps have sprung up around the city of Antofagasta. The camps’ occupants receive some support from local authorities in terms of security and access to healthcare and education, while pro-migrant Chilean NGOs have also been working with the migrants to improve living conditions.

Andrade said the local press bore some responsibility for fanning resentment against immigrants, by exaggerating the number of foreigners involved in criminal activities and calling for the expulsion of all immigrants.

“It’s really difficult for migrants to adapt to Chilean society, as well as for Chileans to live alongside so many foreigners – they’re not used to it. But in the last couple of years there’s been a real surge in racial discrimination,” she said.

Migrants’ rights activists say that the incident underlines the urgent need for new legislation to replace outdated immigration law imposed by the Pinochet dictatorship in 1975, along with well-planned policies to deal with the recent surge in migration to Chile.