Haitians in Chile

Port-de-Paix Haiti - A young Haitian who recently returned form Chile committed suicide Tuesday December 18, less than a week before Christmas.

A third planeload of Haitian immigrants who are voluntarily returning to Haiti arrived in Haiti Monday. 179 Haitians left Chile and returned to Port-au-Prince via a special Chilean government flight.

A second planeload of Haitian immigrants is has returned from Chile back to Haiti in a Chilean Air Force plane on Monday. A total of 181 Haitians were on that flight according to news report.

Human traffickers are using Bolivia as an illegal crossing of illegal Haitians from Chile to Brazil. last weekend, more than 100 Haitian immigrants were detained in Oruro and Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Haitians in Chile asked for help to go home and they got it... The Chilean government announced Thursday the establishment a humanitarian program to allow Haitian citizens who live in Chile illegally to return to their homeland if they wish Watch this video.

Over one hundred thousand Haitians left Haiti to go to Chile hoping it would be their land of opportunity only to be disappointed at what they discovered. Many of these Haitians want to go back home but the money for the trip back is not easy to come by.

Many Haitians in Chile are complaining about their difficulty to get a "certificat de bonne vie et moeurs," (certificate a good conduct) from the Haitian consulate, an important document they need to get their residency papers.

Watch this video... Can you imagine that? There are Haitian con artists in Chile scamming newly arrived Haitian travelers right at the airport, robbing them blind, stealing their money, all their belongings and leaving them only with the clothes on their backs.

More than one percent of the Haitian population has moved to Chile but it is not the promise land that may expected. A good friend mine is considering coming back home once he's done paying his travel debts.

The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet‏, writes on her Twitter page: "Today I met Richard Joseph, the Haitian citizen who saved a person on Sunday."