Haitians invade Brazil
By: Carolina Barros
Wave of migrants becomes Rousseff’s latest headache
Haiti has become the biggest Latin American headache for Brazil: a chronic headache, unlike the self-inflicted year-long migraine brought by Honduras — that faux-pas and intervention in Central America’s politics in 2009 when the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa housed the deposed Mel Zelaya for various months.
Although Dilma Rousseff’s government is “retreating” from Haiti (a gradual reduction in humanitarian troops was announced by Defence Minister Celso Amorim, plus the waning of enthusiasm shown by Brazilian multi-nationals for building reconstruction projects after the January 2010 earthquake), Haitians are the ones that don’t want to break that bond. In other words: a wave of thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants has been trying to enter Brazil.
The reasons for the migration are clearly visible: Haiti, Latin America’s poorest country, with the most barren wasteland, which in addition has been further devastated by a furious earthquake followed by a cholera epidemic and with the cyclical karma of an apparently irredeemable tendency toward mendacity, sees in Brazil a promised land of abundance, health, prosperity and work. It is for these reasons that nearly 7,000 Haitians entered Brazil as from mid-2011, according to official figures. Of this number, only 1650 obtained temporary visas from Brazilian authorities, granting them the right to work for six months, with the possibility of renewing the same right for a further 18 months (yesterday, the Brazilian Justice ministry announced that it would grant another 2400). The rest of those inmigrants, without question, fall into the category of “illegals”, “poachers” or that semantic limbo (that does not ensure legality) of “humanitarian residents” inaugurated by Brazil ’s National Refugees Committee (Conare).
The arrival of these desperate Haitians presents a problem for Rousseff’s government: unlike Bolivia and Peru, Brazil allows Haitians to enter the country without restrictions for a lapse of 90 days. The comparison is apt because it is from the triple border with Peru (Iñapari) and Bolivia (Cobija) where the Caribbean immigrants enter Brazil, arriving in Brasilea, in the Western and Amazonian state of Acre. The other “sieve” for those entering is on another triple border: through Tabatinga, also in the midst of the Amazonian jungle, and bordering Peru and Colombia.
No wonder, as well, that those tides of Haitian immigrants are using the same entrance route as drug-traffickers — and the same as mafias. Apparently, according to the Brazilian media, those responsible for the “facilitation” of the routes and entrance of Haitians are Mexican criminal organizations, with experience in passing illegals accross the US border. From Port-aû-Prince, and after coughing up between US$ 3000- 5000 a head to the Mexican gangs, the Haitians cross to Panama and from there taken by bus to Peru and Bolivia after crossing Colombia and Ecuador.
The “coyotes”, or recruiters, assure their Haitian clients that they have over 5,000 jobs awaiting them at the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Pará state. But these are just promises: packed together and starving, the Haitians arrive in Brasilea, Assis and Tabatinga, the “receptor” cities for the immigrants.
Brazilian authorities have already met several times with their counterparts in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia to try to limit the arrival of the Caribbean immigrants. All of the border countries said they had a tradition of “free transit” and that they would not intervene or restrain the immigrant wave. The Bolivians and Peruvians also stated that they could not provide humanitarian assistance before the Haitians cross into Brazil. The importance of the issue is such that it will be discussed again, this time by Dilma Rousseff, on February 1 in the Haitian capital when she meets with President Michel Martelly.
At the same time, prosperous Brazil has picked up on other groups entering through its porous and extensive Amazonian border: there are Afghans, Indonesians and Mauritians who, attracted by the possibility of being hired by meat processing companies in Brasilia, Minas Gerais and the Brazilian south, venture to these latitudes responding to the demand for Muslim employees to enable the slaughter and processing of beef to be exported to Islamic countries. Side effects of the Brazilian power-house which is today not only the largest country in South America — with the largest population and the largest middle class (almost 60%) — but also the world’s sixth largest economy and the main exporter of meat in Latin America.
By: Carolina Barros
Wave of migrants becomes Rousseff’s latest headache
Haiti has become the biggest Latin American headache for Brazil: a chronic headache, unlike the self-inflicted year-long migraine brought by Honduras — that faux-pas and intervention in Central America’s politics in 2009 when the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa housed the deposed Mel Zelaya for various months.
Although Dilma Rousseff’s government is “retreating” from Haiti (a gradual reduction in humanitarian troops was announced by Defence Minister Celso Amorim, plus the waning of enthusiasm shown by Brazilian multi-nationals for building reconstruction projects after the January 2010 earthquake), Haitians are the ones that don’t want to break that bond. In other words: a wave of thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants has been trying to enter Brazil.
The reasons for the migration are clearly visible: Haiti, Latin America’s poorest country, with the most barren wasteland, which in addition has been further devastated by a furious earthquake followed by a cholera epidemic and with the cyclical karma of an apparently irredeemable tendency toward mendacity, sees in Brazil a promised land of abundance, health, prosperity and work. It is for these reasons that nearly 7,000 Haitians entered Brazil as from mid-2011, according to official figures. Of this number, only 1650 obtained temporary visas from Brazilian authorities, granting them the right to work for six months, with the possibility of renewing the same right for a further 18 months (yesterday, the Brazilian Justice ministry announced that it would grant another 2400). The rest of those inmigrants, without question, fall into the category of “illegals”, “poachers” or that semantic limbo (that does not ensure legality) of “humanitarian residents” inaugurated by Brazil ’s National Refugees Committee (Conare).
The arrival of these desperate Haitians presents a problem for Rousseff’s government: unlike Bolivia and Peru, Brazil allows Haitians to enter the country without restrictions for a lapse of 90 days. The comparison is apt because it is from the triple border with Peru (Iñapari) and Bolivia (Cobija) where the Caribbean immigrants enter Brazil, arriving in Brasilea, in the Western and Amazonian state of Acre. The other “sieve” for those entering is on another triple border: through Tabatinga, also in the midst of the Amazonian jungle, and bordering Peru and Colombia.
No wonder, as well, that those tides of Haitian immigrants are using the same entrance route as drug-traffickers — and the same as mafias. Apparently, according to the Brazilian media, those responsible for the “facilitation” of the routes and entrance of Haitians are Mexican criminal organizations, with experience in passing illegals accross the US border. From Port-aû-Prince, and after coughing up between US$ 3000- 5000 a head to the Mexican gangs, the Haitians cross to Panama and from there taken by bus to Peru and Bolivia after crossing Colombia and Ecuador.
The “coyotes”, or recruiters, assure their Haitian clients that they have over 5,000 jobs awaiting them at the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Pará state. But these are just promises: packed together and starving, the Haitians arrive in Brasilea, Assis and Tabatinga, the “receptor” cities for the immigrants.
Brazilian authorities have already met several times with their counterparts in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia to try to limit the arrival of the Caribbean immigrants. All of the border countries said they had a tradition of “free transit” and that they would not intervene or restrain the immigrant wave. The Bolivians and Peruvians also stated that they could not provide humanitarian assistance before the Haitians cross into Brazil. The importance of the issue is such that it will be discussed again, this time by Dilma Rousseff, on February 1 in the Haitian capital when she meets with President Michel Martelly.
At the same time, prosperous Brazil has picked up on other groups entering through its porous and extensive Amazonian border: there are Afghans, Indonesians and Mauritians who, attracted by the possibility of being hired by meat processing companies in Brasilia, Minas Gerais and the Brazilian south, venture to these latitudes responding to the demand for Muslim employees to enable the slaughter and processing of beef to be exported to Islamic countries. Side effects of the Brazilian power-house which is today not only the largest country in South America — with the largest population and the largest middle class (almost 60%) — but also the world’s sixth largest economy and the main exporter of meat in Latin America.
