Troops set to border with Venezuela
Tensions high in Brazilian state as thousands flee economic crisis
Brazil is sending its armed forces to keep order near the Venezuelan border following violent clashes between local residents and thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse and turmoil in their country.
Brazilian President Michel Temer signed a decree to deploy the armed forces to the border state of Roraima following riots by residents this month, who attacked Venezuelan immigrants in a border town.
He said the move was aimed at keeping order and ensuring the safety of the immigrants.
The situation in Roraima, where most Venezuelans enter Brazil, has become increasingly fraught in recent months — its homicide rate has spiked this year and is now the highest in the country.
As a result of the crisis in Venezuela, 700 to 800 Venezuelans enter Brazil every day, and President Temer also said that the authorities were discussing limiting that to between 100 and 200 as the border state struggles to cope with the influx fleeing the turmoil in Venezuela.
“The problem of Venezuela is no longer one of internal politics. It is a threat to the harmony of the whole continent,” Mr Temer said in a televised address.
More than 50,000 Venezuelans, many of whom are hungry or sick and have little or no money and belongings, have applied for refugee or resident status in Brazil in recent years. Authorities in Roraima state say the federal Government needs to do more to help them deal with the situation as tempers fray amid the influx.
Just over a week ago, angry residents of Pacaraima, a border town in Roraima, hurled rocks at Venezuelans and set fire to their belongings after migrants were blamed for an attack on a local store owner.
Around 1200 were driven back across the border by the violence.
But one Venezuelan, who has been living in the area since 2015 and now works with an aid agency in Boa Vista, Roraima, said that despite the difficulties, Brazil was still a better reality than Venezuela for many.
“We are coming from a country that’s very violent right now,” Alba Marina, who works with Fraternidade Sem Fronteiras, told the Telegraph.
Roraima’s Government has tried a few times to shut the border to stem the flow, but the federal Government and courts have so far pushed to keep it open.
Since 2014, an estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their country’s growing humanitarian crisis, including shortages of food and medicine, according to the United Nations.