Chilean expats come home from Venezuela

A Chilean air force plane landed here Tuesday with Chilean expatriates who decided to abandon Venezuela amid a protracted political and economic crisis in that nation, officials said.

The aircraft stopped in Caracas on the return from Port-au-Prince after a mission to bring 175 Haitians back to their country as part of a voluntary repatriation plan.

The flight was the third one under the plan that has so far returned 500 Haitians to their homeland at no expense to them, on condition that they not try to enter Chile for nine years.

The plane that touched down Tuesday at an airbase in Santiago carried 47 Chilean nationals along with eight Venezuelan-born dependents.

Eight Argentines were also aboard under an accord between Santiago and Buenos Aires.

The Chilean returnees were received by their families and by Chile’s acting foreign minister, Carolina Valdivia.

On Nov. 27 around a hundred of Chilean expats were greeted on their return by President Sebastian Piñera.