Ecuador opens ‘humanitarian corridor’
Migrants escaping Venezuela’s financial crisis find a gateway to Peru, Chile and beyond.
QUITO: Ecuador opened a “humanitarian corridor” to allow masses of migrants escaping Venezuela’s free-falling economy to stream towards the Peruvian border, hours before Lima puts new restrictions on entry into effect.
Ecuadoran Interior Minister Mauro Toscanini said there were currently 35 busloads of migrants on the move along the route authorities had opened to Peru.
“We continue as long as we can,” said the minister, whose country is being crossed by tens of thousands of Venezuelans seeking to join relatives and take up work opportunities in Peru, Chile and beyond.
Peru is one of the region’s fastest growing economies, projecting 4.7% growth next year.
Venezuelans trying to cross the Peruvian border after a midnight deadline will be required to produce a passport – until then – an identity card will suffice.
Peru’s new passport rules threaten to leave tens of thousands of Venezuelans stranded in Ecuador and Colombia, who are already inundated with migrants from the crisis-wracked country.
Ecuador – where close to half a million people have fled this year alone – imposed a passport requirement only last week to try to limit the numbers of Venezuelans trying to enter from Colombia.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will set up a UN team to ensure a coordinated regional response to the crisis, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.
Venezuelans are rushing out of the country to join those who have already fled a deepening economic crisis, as regional governments struggle to cope with one of the biggest exoduses in Latin American history.
The UN says more than 2.3 million of Venezuela’s 30.6 million pop- ulation have fled the country since the current crisis began in 2014 – a staggering 7.5%.
The pace of departures has accelerated in recent days, sparking a warning from the United Nations.
“It remains critical that any new measures continue to allow those in need of international protection to access safety and seek asylum,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Thursday.
The UN said up to 4,000 people were arriving daily in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Brazil, where migrants have been violently turned back by locals concerned by increasing crime. — AFP