STORY: Haitian migrant Christa Belus and her 13-year-old daughter Lowanda are finally reunited in Chile after nearly a decade apart.

Belus fled Haiti in 2016 as deadly armed gangs in Port-au-Prince made life increasingly untenable.

She reluctantly left her then-three-year-old daughter with family, after her dad pushed her to move for a better life.

Lowanda arrived in Chile earlier this year through the country’s family reunification visa program that launched in late 2022.

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The program highlights both the escalating conflict in the Caribbean and sharpening tensions over migration as Chile’s presidential election season ramps up.

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"There is no security in Haiti right now. I brought my daughter here because of the insecurity. That is my country, but I cannot let my daughter live through that. My mother could call me and say, “Christa, something bad has happened to your daughter.” Do you understand? In Haiti, they kill people, kidnap them, kill children, rape girls."

Since its launch, Chile’s family reunification visa program has allowed some 15,000 Haitians to enter the country, including 3,000 just this year.

The visas are contingent on the person requesting reunification having definitive residency, a stable job, no criminal record and contributing to local taxes.