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Brazil sends troops after clashes at Venezuela border
SAO PAULO, Aug 19, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Brazil will send troops to its border
with Venezuela on Monday after residents of the Brazilian border town of
Pacaraima drove out Venezuelan immigrants from their improvised camps, amid
growing regional tensions.
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have crossed the border into Brazil over
the past three years as they seek to escape the economic, political and
social crisis gripping their country.
The latest show of tensions began early Saturday, hours after a local
merchant was robbed and severely beaten in an incident blamed on Venezuelan
suspects, in Pacaraima, where an estimated 1,000 immigrants are living on the
street.
Dozens of locals then attacked the two main immigrant makeshift camps and
burned their belongings, leading Venezuelans to cross the border back into
their home country. Shots were fired, stores were shuttered and debris
littered the streets.
“It was terrible, they burned the tents and everything that was inside,”
said Carol Marcano, a Venezuelan who works in Boa Vista and was on the border
returning from Venezuela. “There were shots, they burned rubber tires.”
Marcano said that some Venezuelans reacted to the attack by destroying a
car with Brazilian license plates. She and her companions were among many who
took refuge at checkpoints on the Venezuelan side of the border.
Three Brazilians were hurt in the clashes, a spokesman for military police
said. No information was immediately available on the state of the
Venezuelans involved.
The merchant who was attacked “is known, he is a neighbor, and there was
indignation when it was learned that he had been robbed,” a local told AFP on
condition of anonymity.
“People began to expel Venezuelans who were in the center of the city,
forcing them to return to their country.”
Roraima state Governor Suely Campos made a plea to temporarily close the
border and asked Brazilia to send security reinforcements to “face the
increase in crime” she links to Venezuelans in the region.
In turn, the public security ministry vowed to send a contingent of 60
troops due to arrive Monday to join teams in the area.
– Venezuelan immigrants reviled –
Tensions are rising in Latin America over migration triggered by the
crises in Venezuela and in Nicaragua, where President Daniel Ortega has led a
brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Peru and Ecuador are halting immigrants at the border by requiring would
be border-crossers to show their passports — which many lack — instead of
simple identity cards.
Last week alone, 20,000 Venezuelans entered Peru, authorities say. The
restrictive measures there go into effect August 25.
Colombia has said it fears that Ecuador’s border controls, which went into
effect Saturday after the country declared a migration emergency, will leave
thousands of Venezuelans stranded in Colombia.
An estimated 3,000 people cross every day from Colombia to Ecuador in the
border town of Rumichaca.
The United Nations estimates that 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled the
crisis looking for work and to escape poverty, while Colombia has given
temporary residence to more than 800,000.
-‘Guarantee safety’-
Many Venezuelans are aiming further afield to settle in Peru, Chile,
Argentina or even Uruguay. Peru said 5,100 Venezuelans crossed into the
country on August 11, a record for a single day.
In Costa Rica, hundreds of people took part in sometimes violent protests
Saturday using Nazi symbols to repudiate Nicaraguan migrants.
Some demonstrators, carrying swastikas and shouting anti-immigrant
slogans, tried to attack Nicaraguans gathered in the central La Merced park
in San Jose, and clashed with police who tried to contain them, Security
Minister Michael Soto said, adding that there were only some minor injuries.
The clashes in Brazil took place amid an increase in robberies and violent
incidents in the city of 12,000 people that locals blame on immigrants, while
the government points to a lack of resources to address the situation and
calls for the closure of the border.
In response to the latest violence, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry urged
Brazil to “guarantee the safety of Venezuelan nationals and take measures to
protect and safeguard their families and belongings.”
By nighttime, the streets were quiet again, authorities said.
Brazilian federal police, in charge of immigration, estimates that about
500 Venezuelans cross over to Brazil every day. In January alone, around 900
and 1,200 Venezuelans came to Brazil — a peak so far.
In the first semester of this year, around 56,740 Venezuelans sought to
legalize their situation in Brazil requesting refuge or temporary residence.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1302 hrs