Military border protection extended for 90 days and Atacama incorporated

The Ministry of the Interior extended for 90 days the military safeguarding of border zone areas established by supreme decree No. 78 of 2023, and expanded the measure to a new sector of the Atacama Region. This was done through supreme decree No. 156, signed on October 30, 2026, and published this Wednesday, November 4, in the Official Gazette (No. 44,590, Section I, pages 1 to 4), under the official reference CVE 2897726.

The regulation, processed by the Undersecretariat of the Interior, is issued in exercise of the attribution of numeral 21 of article 32 of the Political Constitution, incorporated by law No. 21,542—published on February 3, 2023—which empowers the President of the Republic to entrust the Armed Forces with the protection of critical infrastructure and the safeguarding of border zone areas. Decree with the force of law No. 1 of 2023, dated February 20, 2023, regulated the powers and duties of the Forces for this task, and supreme decree No. 78 of 2023 delimited the areas and designated the general officers, initially for 90 days.

According to the recitals of the new decree, this measure has been extended fourteen times since then:

• supreme decree No. 139, No. 220, and No. 338, all of 2023.
• supreme decree No. 114, No. 182, No. 273, and No. 364, of 2024.
• supreme decree No. 50, of 2025.
• supreme decree No. 150, No. 227, and No. 269, of 2025.
• supreme decree No. 14, No. 76, and No. 121, of 2026.

Ninety more days and a new polygon in Atacama

The second article extends the validity of the measures of supreme decree No. 78 of 2023 for an additional period of 90 days, counted from the expiration of the period provided in supreme decree No. 121 of 2026. The first article, meanwhile, modifies the first article of the original regulation to incorporate the border zone area of the Atacama Region.

The delimitation starts at the “San Francisco” Customs Complex and continues west toward the southern foothills of the Peña Blanca volcano, parallel to route 31-CH, along the northern shore of Laguna Verde to the international border with Argentina. From there, it continues south along the border demarcation, advancing through the stream parallel to route 31-CH to Quebrada El Fraile, the Claudio Lucero shelter, and the Río Lamas waterfall, to return north via route 31-CH, the fork with road C-601, and back to the customs complex.

The Executive justified the extension based on factors such as the extent of the territory, geographical isolation, adverse weather conditions, connectivity limitations, and travel times to attend to situations requiring police intervention. The text indicates that the goal is to strengthen the presence and response capacity of the State in sectors near the border to prevent cross-border crimes and irregular migratory movements, and specifies that this does not disregard the functions of the agencies operating in the border complex.

Three Army generals maintain command

Article three renews the general officers of the Armed Forces who will have command of those forces and those of Public Order and Security in the delimited areas, all from the Chilean Army and holding the rank of Brigadier General:

• Manuel Provis Baker, for the Arica and Parinacota Region.
• Luis Ovando Alarcón, for the Tarapacá Region.
• Eduardo Valdivia Méndez, for the regions of Antofagasta and Atacama.

The three will exercise command throughout the period established in article two, that is, the additional 90 days.

Presidential request and Congressional agreement

The extension was processed based on official letter Gab. Pres. No. 1,556, dated October 27, 2026, in which the President requested the agreement to extend the measure due to the continued existence of situations of grave or imminent danger that gave rise to it. In that same letter, it was reported that the possibility of expanding the territorial scope to certain sectors of Atacama was under study.

On October 28, 2026, the Chamber of Deputies, through official letter No. 21,698, communicated the approval of the National Congress to extend supreme decree No. 78, of 2023 for 90 days. On October 30, the Ministry of National Defense submitted the proposal from the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Chief of the Joint Staff regarding the incorporation of the Atacama area, a proposal that was included in the text.

The decree bears the signatures of President José Antonio Kast Rist and ministers Claudio Alvarado Andrade (Interior), Fernando Barros Tocornal (National Defense), and Martín Arrau García-Huidobro (Public Security), and was transcribed by the Undersecretary of the Interior (acting) José Uzal Castro.

The relevance of the measure is direct for border communities and the migrant population: the recitals of the decree refer to the increase in migratory flows toward Chile, the arrival of people through unauthorized crossings, and the need to maintain border surveillance for migratory control and to ensure the protection of life, physical integrity, and security for those entering and those inhabiting those areas.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,590, Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Section I, page 1 (official reference: CVE 2897726).