Lima
Migrants in the desert: Peru sent 700 troops and police officers to its southern border with Chile this week to prevent undocumented migrants from crossing. Hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, are trying to leave Chile, which recently tightened immigration restrictions. The migrants say they want to travel through Peru only to get back to their home country, but Peruvian authorities fear they might stay. Crackdowns on both sides of the border have left the migrants stuck in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on the planet, enduring searing days and cold nights in improvised tents with little water. Catholic bishops in Peru and Chile called for dialogue, and Amnesty International urged both countries to end the “militarization” of the border, which the human rights group said was “needlessly aggravating the situation.”