It’s midnight, and a couple from Buenaventura, Colombia, waits wearily at the Tacna bus terminal. José Aníbal and his wife, Jasmine, have just been turned away. This is the term used for people whom Chilean border agents refuse to allow to cross the Chacalluta border crossing, a complex less than 300 meters from the Santa Rosa crossing on the Peruvian side, in the middle of the only road that crosses the desert and connects Tacna, the country’s southernmost city, with Arica, the first Chilean city.

These “coyotes” are people who know how to cross the desert, evading border posts and the Investigation Police, the Chilean authority responsible for border control. There are three main routes used: along the coast, on the railway line that connects Tacna and Arica, or across the desert. The migrants have to walk for about eight hours; it seems easy from a physical standpoint if it weren’t for the 180,000 landmines planted by Pinochet.