Brazil gov’t steps up security for Venezuelan immigrants

President Michel Temer is holding another round of meetings on Monday (Aug. 20) at the Planalto presidential palace in a bid to seek a solution to the crisis involving Venezuelan immigrants in Roraima, the Brazilian state bordering Venezuela. Seven ministers were called to attend.

In a similar assembly, held on Sunday (19), Temer and cabinet members devised emergency measures aimed at the frontier in the Brazilian town of Pacaraima, where a significant number of Venezuelan immigrants are concentrated. Some 120 National Force agents are to be immediately sent to the town, along with 36 heath care volunteers, to work in partnership with university hospitals.

Measures will be implemented with a view to bringing organization to control and screening routines and increasing the presence of federal forces in the area to bolster social support and security.

Also expected is the construction of ten shelters for the immigrants. Two are reported to be near their conclusion. Efforts will be made to relocate new immigrants to other parts of the country.

Another plan is aimed at the maintenance of a transition shelter between state capital Boa Vista and Pacaraima, in an attempt to improve the humanitarian assistance provided to immigrants awaiting relocation and to reduce the number of homeless.

In a note issued Sunday (19), the Venezuelan government expressed “concern over the information confirming the attacks against Venezuelan immigrants, like the massive evictions of our fellow countrymen—an incident that violates rules in international law, in addition to making human rights vulnerable.”

The last straw

The crisis broke out on Saturday (18), in Pacaraima, in Roraima. Residents attacked tents set up by Venezuelan immigrants, some torching the tents after a local salesman was robbed and beaten. According to local authorities, no Venezuelan was reported injured. Venezuelans are suspected to have taken part in the robbery.

After the episode, the Brazilian Army confirmed that 1.2 thousand Venezuelans crossed the border between the two countries back to to Venezuela this weekend.