Star Metro - Chilean truck drivers block roads to protest death of colleague

Big rigs clogged roads in northern and central Chile, as well as on the outskirts of the capital Santiago.

In the northern port city of Iquique, trucks sealed off the road to the airport, forcing the cancellation of all incoming and outgoing flights.

Truck drivers have been blocking roads and setting up barricades since a clash Thursday in which a colleague died near the northern city of Antofagasta.

Police say three Venezuelans threw rocks at his truck because he refused to give them a ride. The three alleged assailants have been arrested.

Immigration has become a sensitive subject in Chile because of the deep economic woes of Venezuela, from where millions have fled seeking better lives, spreading out across Latin America.

In towns and along roads in northern Chile it is common to see migrant Venezuelan families camping out in public places and asking for money as they try to find work and start a new life.

The death of the truck driver prompted calls for more anti-migrant protests of the kind that have unfolded in Iquique and elsewhere in Chile's north over the past three weeks.

A new immigration law went into effect Saturday that the Chilean government says gives authorities greater powers to expel foreigners who have false papers or have dodged immigration controls.

P.M.Martin--SMC