SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia–Since last September, violent encounters between Venezuelan migrants, locals, and police in Chile have continued to increase, prompting outgoing President Sebastián Piñera to declare a state of exception on Feb. 16. “The state of exception will allow collaboration between the armed forces and the police with two focuses: combat drug trafficking and migrant trafficking,” Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado explained. Additionally, regional prosecutor Raúl Arancibia released the findings of a study on crime trends conducted by the public ministry in the Tarapacá region, which showed a 183 percent increase in homicides between 2020-2021. The spike in crime coincides with a significant surge in illegal migration in the area. “The situation is getting worse and worse,” Arancibia said. Chile’s Tarapacá region in the north is the epicenter of the migration crisis, which provides an easy crossing for illegals at the Chile-Bolivia border due to the extreme remoteness and …