SANTIAGO – Pope Francis kicked off the 22nd trip abroad of his papacy after arriving in Chilean capital Santiago late on Monday.
The Argentine pontiff was greeted by outgoing President Michelle Bachelet and thousands of faithful.
The one-week visit will also take in Peru.
A total of 18,000 Carabineros (national police force) have been assigned for the security of Pope Francis during the activities that will be carried out in Santiago, Temuco and Iquique. This is the largest deployment the institution has had.
This interactive map allows people to take a tour with Pope Francis in Chile
This was reported by the area chief Santiago Este, General Aladino Alfaro, who gave details of the police provision for the reception of the Pontiff between January 15 and 18.
For the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, there are approximately 9,500 personnel “that will be present at each of the trips that take place on Tuesday in the capital.”
Other measures that will be adopted in the instance, consists of the provision of drones for the aerial monitoring of events: There will be three in Santiago, two in Temuco and two in Iquique. These devices will transmit live and record the movements of the Popemobile, material that will then go to the command center located in Santiago.
To this is added a helicopter that will follow the vehicle that will take Pope Francis throughout his journey through the national territory, to strengthen surveillance tasks. In total there will be four in each city, the three remaining will be in other neighboring sectors.
