JULY 29, 2019

President Piñera launches National Priority Neighborhoods Plan: “We will give back to our fellow Chileans the right to live in peace and have opportunities to get ahead”

The initiative seeks to fight crime in 33 areas of the country through prevention and social development actions.

On Monday, President Sebastián Piñera unveiled the Plan Nacional de Barrios Prioritarios (national priority neighborhoods plan), which focuses on 33 at-risk areas, providing an ongoing police presence, investigation and control operations, as well as social development policies designed to foster wellbeing.

“We are ensuring that honest families - that is the vast majority of the families in these neighborhoods - do not have to live behind bars and padlocks or live constantly in fear. We are helping them take back their neighborhoods, streets, plazas and public spaces. We are helping them take back their lives,” the President said, as he launched the program at the Investigations Police (PDI) Headquarters in Santiago.

The uniformed police service (Carabineros) will have access to more vehicles and 200 additional uniformed officers will be assigned to the program nationwide. The PDI will focus on key arrests in an effort to break up 20% of criminal organizations in 2019; decrease micro-trafficking sites by 35%; arrest individuals with pending warrants, thus reducing the number of fugitives by 30%; and discourage and prevent the sale of stolen goods.

The social aspect of the priority neighborhoods program includes restoring homes and the urban environment, implementing social policies and strengthening social organizations.

“We will ensure that this intervention, which involves both police work and social policy, allows us to recover these neighborhoods and restore to the families who live in them their right to live a fuller, happier life,” stated President Piñera. He was accompanied by Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick, Interior Undersecretary Rodrigo Ubilla; Crime Prevention Undersecretary Katherine Martorell; the Director General of the Carabineros, Mario Rozas; and the Director General of the PDI, Héctor Espinosa.

Priority neighborhoods present high levels of gun- and drug-related crime, domestic violence, robbery and other violent crimes. The information was used to build social vulnerability, personal risk and crime risk indicators.

Eleven of the 33 priority neighborhoods are in the Metropolitan Region and 22 are located elsewhere in Chile. 

Due to the unique characteristics of each neighborhood, technical teams from the Crime Prevention Undersecretary’s office will work with the municipalities and residents to identify specific needs in each area.

The President noted that 96% of the measures proposed as part of the National Agreement on Public Safety have been implemented or are being developed.