Santiago, CHILE — Between the United States’ intervention in political affairs in Latin America and the rise of neopopulism led by the likes of the late Hugo Chávez, a strong anti-U.S. sentiment has risen over the years in Latin America.

This semester, though, Syracuse University students studying abroad in Santiago, Chile, have received even more pushback than usual following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.

Oftentimes, the first question students in Santiago have been asked after sharing their nationality has been: “Why Trump?”

Numerous students have had lengthy conversations with their host families about that very question, both in Ecuador during the June immersion seminar and in Chile. Tour guides have started discussions about the possibility of his election. Argentinians and Uruguayans have put their differences aside to tell SU students that they do not even understand how Trump got on the ballot.

Kyle Fehlen, a senior psychology major at Loyola Marymount University studying abroad in Chile, called Trump’s election “rock bottom” for U.S. politics. But he also said when he’s asked by Chileans how the election of Trump was even a possibility, he explains the disdain he and others in the U.S. feel toward Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“When I explain (that), they seem to understand it much better,” he said.

Nicolás Deppe, a Chilean-American living in Santiago, said he’s hoping for the sake of the U.S. that Trump succeeds as president, but he isn’t optimistic.

“I’m really worried about the whole immigration thing,” Deppe said. “Trump wants to reform the H1-B visa. Many of my Chilean friends in the U.S. are living there under that visa. They’re sh*t scared.”

Some SU students, too, have said they are scared. Haile Rice, a junior biology major studying abroad in Chile, said being in a foreign country has been a way for her to escape the election, and now she’s afraid to return to the country.

She pointed specifically pointed to Trump’s proposal to bring back stop-and-frisk, a controversial New York City Police Department tactic that critics have called racially discriminatory.

“It makes me feel that black and Hispanic people will be even more targeted than they were before,” Rice said.

Melissa Horste, a second-year master’s student in public administration and international relations studying abroad in Chile, said watching the election from afar “has been painful.”

“Never in my life have I ever felt so helpless,” she said. “… What has pained me the most is seeing the fear in my young colleagues eyes. It’s a fear of a country consumed by hatred and racism that they will meet when they come home.”

Those feelings aren’t uncommon among students in Chile. Mauricio Paredes, director of the SU Abroad Santiago program, said in all of his years teaching for SU, he’s never before seen “a spirit of collective sadness and frustration” like he saw immediately following the election.

Mary Newman, a third-year Spanish and Latin American studies major at University College London studying abroad in Chile, called the election ridiculous, and said many of the things Trump is against are universally accepted in the United Kingdom.

“Personally, I see a wave a discontent that finally found a tangerine figurehead to lead it,” Newman said.

Published on November 15, 2016 at 1:31 am

Contact Delaney: dovanwey@syr.edu