THE Venezuelan immigration to Brazil results from the crisis scenario in which Venezuelans live. This crisis permeates political, economic and social issues. The gateway for Venezuelans to Brazil is the state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela.
Summary
The crisis experienced by Venezuelans is reported by the main newspapers in the world, which point out the political and economic problems faced by the Venezuelan government. The country is currently governed by the president Nicolas Mature, which faces a strong discontent among the population in relation to its management. Maduro assumed the government of the country with the purpose of continuing the policies of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. However, Venezuela was experiencing difficult times in 2013, when Maduro took office as president. With inflation exceeding 800% a year and oil barrels showing high prices, the country was plunged into an economic collapse, which resulted in a dramatic humanitarian crisis. The country lacked basic supplies for survival. Supermarkets did not serve the population. There was a lack of food and medication. Because of this sad reality, thousands of Venezuelans decided to migrate to other countries in search of work and better living conditions.
One of the main destinations for Venezuelans is the Brazil. Currently, the Brazilian territory receives thousands of people, who are looking for opportunities to enter the labor market and better quality of life. However, this intense migratory flow triggered several problems in the national territory, mainly because most immigrants were concentrated in a single state, Roraima.
Political and economic crisis in Venezuela
With the death of the former president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, the government of the country was taken over in 2013 by Nicolás Maduro. the purpose of Mature was to maintain the same policy adopted by Chavez, however, he was faced with a reality in the country completely different from the scenario experienced by his predecessor.
Venezuela had a inflation which exceeded 800% per year. You barrels of oil were priced above average. Supermarkets raised the prices of products exorbitantly and also started not serving the population because of the lack of products. The political instability, the strong authoritarianism of the president, the consequent discontent of the population, the lack of basic inputs for survival, high unemployment and misery have started a socioeconomic collapse in the Venezuela.
Numerous protests by the population against Maduro's government took place in Venezuela.*
Causes of Venezuelan immigration to Brazil
According to the United Nations Agency for Refugees, Brazil is the second most targeted country by Venezuelans, losing only to the United States. Venezuelan immigrants see Brazil as the refuge they need to survive.
To enter Brazilian territory, which borders Venezuela through the state of Roraima, Venezuelans do not need to visa, being able to stay for up to sixty days only as tourists. Due to the crisis that took place in Venezuela, Brazil allowed Venezuelans to seek refuge, offering temporary residence and enabling immigrants to enter the society. Therefore, Venezuelans believe they will achieve better living conditions in Brazilian territory.
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One of the main destinations for Venezuelans is Brazil, in an attempt to seek refuge and better living conditions.
How does the crisis in Venezuela affect Brazil?
Brazil is currently the country with the largest migratory flow of Venezuelans. The entry of migrants happens by Roraima (state that borders Venezuela), more precisely by the Roraima city called paracaraima. This was the Brazilian state most affected by the intense migratory flow of Venezuelans, as it is the region with greater accessibility.
You rulers of the state of Roraima they declared that there was an overload of public services and that the state was not able to meet the demand of immigrants who settled there. They also claimed the impossibility of including them in public programs related to health, education or the labor market.
According to Marcilene da Silva Moura, director of the Hospital Geral de Roraima, the medicines requested to serve the population throughout 2018 had already run out in mid-August. The health area was the most impacted by the migratory flow. Diseases like measles, which had already been eliminated in Brazilian territory, reappeared, and Roraima presented almost 300 confirmed cases of the disease until August 10, 2018. With regard to education, the city requested funding from the federal government for new classrooms to be built in order to meet the number of Venezuelans who enrolled in schools. During this same period, the governor of the state of Roraima, Suely Campos, published a decree in which restricted access of Venezuelans to public health services and requested closure of the border.
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This immigration flow of Venezuelans that settled in Brazil, mainly in the state of Roraima, is already classified by some scholars and journalists as exodus or diaspora (permanent transfer of people from one place to another). Although the data presented represent a huge number of immigrants who entered the territory Brazilian, it is not yet possible to confirm precisely the number of Venezuelans who remain in the Brazil. This is because the migratory flow had three moments, according to professor of International Relations João Carlos Jarochinski1:
1. First moment: initially there was in Brazil what we call pendular migration, that is, a momentary detachment, usually motivated by the search for a job. Venezuelans migrated to Brazil in order to enter the labor market and also to seek basic supplies that were lacking in their country. Later, they returned to Venezuela.
2. Second moment: Venezuela had no history of migration, that is, Venezuelans were not in the habit of leaving their country. In this second moment of the migratory flow, many tried to stay close to their country of origin and then started to settle close to the border.
3. Third moment: Venezuelan immigrants passed through the state of Roraima once and for all and went to other states in search of job offers.
The Federal Police presented data noting that approximately 30,000 Venezuelans requested regularization to remain in Brazilian territory. Although it is not possible to specify the total number of immigrants in the country, it is a fact that the state of Roraima does have difficulties in housing this population contingent. News linked to this migratory flow state that the capital of Roraima, Boa Vista, is experiencing a chaotic situation. Many Venezuelans took the public squares, living in a situation of marginalization, which also aggravates cases of violence in the city.
This situation reflects the lack of integrative policies to insert Venezuelans into the public health and education systems, the lack of job opportunities and the lack of partnership between the federal, state and municipal spheres. This scenario results in a dramatic reality in Roraima. Many Venezuelans find themselves at traffic lights begging for handouts or selling food. Others share makeshift shelters in squares or small rooms, and some have even gone into prostitution.
The coordinator of the Foreign Policy Program at Conectas Human Rights, Camila Asano, highlighted in material published by the newspaper El País (to read, click on here) that the federal government was slow to assume the responsibilities related to the problems that arose in Roraima. The lack of acceptance through public policies incited an unstable and dramatic scenario in the state of Roraima. There is a clear lack of partnership between the spheres of government.
Venezuelan immigration and xenophobia
The reality caused by the migratory flow that generated an unstable scenario in Brazil was classified by Brazilians as a "migration crisis”. However, it is worth clarifying that those fleeing a crisis are the Venezuelans. In Brazil, what generates the feeling of crisis is not the fact that these immigrants arrive and settle here, but the lack of public policies that integrate them into our reality in a welcoming way. This sad reality has resulted in cases of xenophobia(aversion to or discrimination against foreigners).
Xenophobic cases have already been registered in the country. The use of the National Force by the federal government further increased Brazilians' fear of the “unknown”, strengthening prejudice and the increase in cases of violence and conflict. This economic instability associated with the lack of public integration policies highlights the Brazilian government's ineffectiveness in receiving these immigrants, who are in situations of vulnerability.
Does Brazil have the capacity to receive these immigrants?
It is necessary to emphasize that, despite the state of Roraima not being able to absorb all this demand of immigrants there settled, the number of Venezuelans in Brazilian territory does not exceed the capacity of the country as a whole to absorb them. Only 1% of Brazil's population is made up of immigrants, a number below the world average, which is 3%. The big problem is the concentration of Venezuelans in just one place, as is the case of Roraima. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out an interiorization study capable of distributing this contingent to other urban centers that may offer job opportunities and better conditions for life.
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*Image Credit: Reynaldo Riobueno / Shuttershock
By Rafaela Sousa
Graduated in Geography