More than Half of the Venezuelans who Entered Brazil Have already Left the Country

07/18/2018 - 13h24

Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha said on Tuesday (the 17th) that more than half of the Venezuelans who crossed the Venezuela-Brazil border and entered the state of Roraima between 2017 and 2018 have already left the country.

In a post made on social media, Mr. Padilha said that of the 127,778 Venezuelans who crossed the border, entering the Brazilian city of Pacaraima, 68,968 have already left the country - 47,855 of whom crossed the Brazilian border by land while 21,113 resorted to international flights.

Among the Venezuelans who left Brazil by land, 66% returned to Venezuela via Pacaraima; 15% took the Tancredo Neves Bridge in Foz do Iguaçu (Paraná) to leave the country; 6% left via Guajará-Mirim, in Rondônia; another 6% left via Uruguaiana (Rio Grande do Sul); and 7% chose other exit points.

58% of those who flew out of the country left via Guarulhos, while 15% took off from Manaus. 13% left via Brasília while another 11% left from Galeão.

According to Mr. Padilha, 4,000 Venezuelans are staying in shelters in Roraima. Another 690 Venezuelans were voluntarily taken to the cities of São Paulo, Manaus, Cuiabá and Rio de Janeiro.

According to data compiled by the Federal Police that was released during a meeting held by the Federal Committee on Urgent Assistance, from 2015 to June of 2018, 56,740 Venezuelans went to the Federal Police either to seek asylum or establish residency in the country.

Among this group of Venezuelans, 35,540 sought asylum while 11,100 tried to establish residency in Brazil. Another 10,100 people scheduled an appointment with the Federal Police but never showed up.

The latest figure, which was obtained on May 15th, indicates that 48,646 Venezuelans were seeking to go to the Federal Police (PF) in order to normalize their statuses.

	Sandro Pereira/Codigo19/Folhapress
	690 Venezuelans were voluntarily taken to the cities of São Paulo, Manaus, Cuiabá and Rio de Janeiro

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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