Brazil troops at Venezuela post

Brasilia, Aug. 29: Brazilian President Michel Temer signed a decree on Tuesday to send the army to “guarantee law and order” on the border with crisis- hit Venezuela after recent violent clashes.

Earlier in August, more than a thousand homeless Venezuelan immigrants who had flooded over the border into Brazil’s northwestern Roraima state were driven back by an angry mob that rampaged through their makeshift tent following rumours a local shopkeeper was brutally beaten by migrants.

Temer said his measure was aimed at providing “security for Brazilian citizens, but also Venezuelan immigrants fleeing their country.” He also branded Venezuela’s crisis as “tragic,” saying it “threatens the harmony of practically the entire continent.” Temer called on “the international community to adopt diplomatic measures” to halt the Venezuelan exodus, as economic and political crises under President Nicolas Maduro’s regime drive hundreds of thousands to leave in hope of finding a better life elsewhere.

“Brazil respects the sovereignty of other states but we have to remember that a country is only sovereign if it respects its people and looks after them,” he added in an ominous warning to Maduro.

The United Nations says some 2.3 million Venezuelans are living outside their homeland, with 1.6 million of those having left since 2015.