BRAZIL is sending armed forces to keep order at the Venezuelan border as thousands continue to flee the South American country amid economic collapse and food shortages.
Brazil’s President Michel Temer blamed socialist President Nicolas Maduro for the migration crisis, calling it a ‘threat to the whole South American continent’.
Temer has today signed a decree to deploy troops to the border state of Roraima, saying their aim is to keeping order and ensuring the safety of immigrants, Dailymail has said.
‘The problem of Venezuela is no longer one of internal politics. It is a threat to the harmony of the whole continent,’ Temer said in a televised address.
The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a ‘crisis moment’ comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week.
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Peru, meanwhile, declared a 60-day health emergency in two provinces on its northern border, citing ‘imminent danger’ to health and sanitation.
The decree, published in the government’s official gazette, did not give more details on the risks, but health authorities have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from migrants.
Top immigration officials from Peru, Colombia and Brazil are currently meeting in Colombian capital Bogota for a summit to discuss how to cope with the influx from Venezuela.
There are close to one million Venezuelans now living in Colombia and more than 400,000 in Peru, the countries said in a joint statement after the meeting on Tuesday. Just 178,000 of those in Peru have legal permission to stay or are being processed.
In an attempt to track arrivals and distribute aid, Colombia and Peru said they would share information about migrants in a database.
Maduro has warned migrants they face difficult conditions abroad and invited them to return home.
On Tuesday, Venezuela said it had repatriated 89 citizens who had migrated to Peru but sought to return after suffering ‘cruel treatment.’
‘They listened to the siren call from abroad … and all they found in Lima was racism, disdain, and persecution,’ Maduro told a news conference.
He said Venezuelans should stop leaving the country to clean toilets and return to the ‘country of opportunity.’
Oscar Perez, an activist who works with Venezuelan migrants in Peru, said the repatriation was a publicity stunt by the Venezuelan government.
An official at Peru’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the repatriation, saying the country was focused on regional solutions to address the situation.
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