Jews in Chile Satisfied with Government’s Relaxation of Anti-refugee Decree

Satisfaction is expressed in Jewish circles here concerning the activities of the commission which the Government of Chile set up recently to re-examine the cases of refugees who were ordered to move from Santiago to agricultural districts on the pretext that when they entered the country they pledged to settle in the sparsely-populated southern regions as agricultural workers.

The Jewish community of Chile which has intervened with the government against the order which affected 3, 500 Jewish refugees, was notified that the original decree giving the refugees sixty days notice to move from the capital has been modified under a new decree published in the official gazette. The new decree provides that the recently established commission “will study the applications of the interested persons and will submit a report on each individual case to the Minister of Interior who will render the final decision.”

In re-examining the cases of the refugees who were ordered to move into the interior, the commission is guided by the following three principles outlined by the government in its new decree : 1. That certain refugees, though admitted on the condition that they settle in agricultural districts, have established themselves in Santiago in positions where their removal to agricultural work would harm Chile’s national economy; 2. That the removal of other categories of refugees from Santiago to the southern regions of the country would only result in ” evident disadvantages” for themselves and the members of their families without bringing any benefit to the country; 3. That a certain number of refugees have developed in Santiago industrial enterprises which are of importance to the country’s economic system.