Photos: Will Chile Go Black — or Fight Back?

Whether Chile is a castizo or a mestizo country has been debated for a long time. However, it has not had a significant black population since the middle of the 17th century, by which point the small number of black slaves brought by the Spaniards had been absorbed into the mestizo underclass. About half of Chile’s population has a 2 – 6 percent black admixture. 

At least, that was true until a few years ago, when mass immigration to Chile started in full force, and blacks started arriving in large numbers from across Latin America, especially, Haiti.

The number of Haitians now estimated to be in Chile is 180,000. While there have been promising signs of resistance against this influx over the last five years — identitarian groups have become much more active and visible and in 2017 Chile elected an immigration-skeptical center-right President — Chile is still blacker today than at any time since independence in 1818.

My Chilean father and grandparents never saw a black face until they arrived in the United States in the 1970s. When I spent time in Chile up until my 20s there were no blacks, and parks, public transportation, etc. were pleasant and safe. That Chile is gone, much like the Britain of John Derbyshire and Peter Brimelow’s childhood. With this newfound diversity have come the typical problems: crime, instability, and urban decay.

Here are glimpses of those changes — not with photos of blacks in the streets of Santiago, but with examples of how multiculturalism and “anti-racism” have seeped into street art, graffiti, and even politics. Unless otherwise noted, I took all these photos when I was in Santiago in 2019.

As the Santiago metro fills with diversity (and fares rise), the government tries to make the best of it.

Historically, the Chilean Left cared deeply about labor rights, the welfare state, and limiting privatization of public services. With the country’s demographic shift, the Left now focuses more on “racism” and the rights of immigrants — a change found across the Western world and well-documented in Paul Gottfried’s The Strange Death of Marxism.

Mr. Picuasi did not deserve to die, but he was working as a street vendor without a license — which is illegal. He fled when police tried to arrest him. During the chase, police accidentally ran him over and then rushed him to a hospital.

Murals have always been popular in Chile, and almost uniformly leftist. In the past, they were of heroic factory workers and farmers:

Today, murals ride the same hobbyhorses as America’s Left:

Chile’s Communist Party has put a banner over this multiracial mural. It reads (roughly), “Go Fuck Yourselves Yankee Shit-Heads, Here You’ll Find a Dignified People.” Note the quotes from American blacks, Angela Davis and Nina Simone.

As Jared Taylor and others have noted, the huge volume of American-produced movies and TV shows that make their way around the world give the impression that racial diversity is a blessing, and that blacks are friendly and cool. This is true in Chile as much as anywhere else. I have met Chileans who say how great it is that Chile now has blacks, as if their presence were a sign of wealth or status. There are other examples like these:

On the whole, Chile has been a politically incorrect country — especially when it came to blacks — because there were so few of them. With diversity and its taboos on the march, I doubt that will last much longer.

In Chile, a “cacique” means “Indian chieftain.” The “Cacique Mulato” is a restaurant in the southern city of Puerto Natales.

Just as in America, the Left has turned against middle- and lower-class voters. They, in turn, have turned to the Right in the hope that it will stop immigration. The derogatory slang for this group is facho pobre, “facho” being short for fascista — in other words, “poor fascists.”

Imagery and slogans aping American antifa have been around for decades — but have become much more common in the last few years.

There is more than just bad news coming out of Chile, though. America’s Left, mainstream media, and mainstream entertainment are hurting the rest of the world, but America’s Right, identitarian activists, and online troll culture are helping. The battle for Chile’s future can be seen in its street art and graffiti as much as anywhere else, as opposing sides constantly vandalize the other’s material.

Here are vandalized posters put up by Acción Identitaria

Another point of light has been President Piñera’s push to deport illegal immigrants, especially Haitians. This policy was largely shaped by Mr. Piñera’s first Minister of the Interior (a role similar to the American Vice-president), Andrés Chadwick — a member of Chile’s small but important Anglo elite.

Mr. Chadwick bragged about the policy on Instagram, and below are screenshots of photos he posted, in case he takes them down. The accompanying text reads, “Today the second plane (carrying 171) Haitian citizens voluntarily participating in the Humanitarian Return Plan, as offered by President Sebastian Piñera, took off.”

Mr. Chadwick quickly became the Left’s favorite target:

These repatriation policies, plus increasing Piñera government scrutiny of immigrants are already slowing the demographic change, even though President Piñera submitted to Leftist pressure and forced out Mr. Chadwick in late October. Moreover, since October, Chile has suffered from political violence, complete with periods of martial law and soldiers in the streets. This is of course bad, but it will make prospective immigrants think twice about Chile.

Damage has been done to the country; there is no doubt about that. But I am optimistic that good sense is returning.