Brazil sends troops to Venezuela border after clashes

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Brazil's President Michel Temer has sent troops to the border town of Pacaraima after residents clashed with Venezuelan migrants, driving them out of makeshift camps.

Following the decision, Temer met key ministers, including those of defense and public security, amid regional tensions rose over the exodus from Venezuela.

The situation in Pacaraima, on the opposite side of the border to the Venezuelan town of Santa Elena de Uairen, was calm early Sunday, partly because locals managed to force out Venezuelans living on the streets.

Brazilian President Michel Temer /VCG Photo

"More than 1,200 Venezuelan migrants returned to Venezuela after Saturday's violence," said a spokesman for a Brazilian migration task force.

"The city looks deserted today, it's very quiet because police reinforcements have arrived and the markets are reopening," said a local in the town of around 12,000, who wished to be anonymous.

The public security ministry announced it was sending a contingent of 60 troops to join teams in the area on Monday.

Venezuelans walk past belongings and tents burned by civilians at the Pacaraima border control, Roraima State, August 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have crossed the border into Brazil over the past three years.

The latest tensions began early Saturday, hours after a local merchant was robbed and severely beaten in an incident blamed on Venezuelan suspects, in Pacaraima, where an estimated 1,000 immigrants had been living on the street.

Dozens of locals then attacked the immigrants' two makeshift camps and burned their belongings, forcing the Venezuelans back across the border. Shots were fired, stores were shuttered and debris littered the streets.

"It was terrible, they burned the tents and everything that was inside," said Carol Marcano, a Venezuelan who works in Boa Vista and was on the border returning from Venezuela. "There were shots, they burned rubber tires."

A screen grab taken from a video shows Brazilian police and military presence at the border in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima after residents attacked the two main makeshift camps of Venezuelan immigrants and burned their belongings, August 18, 2018. /VCG Photo

Roraima state Governor Suely Campos made a plea to temporarily close the border and asked the national government to send security reinforcements to "face the increase in crime" she links to Venezuelans in the region, particularly in the capital Boa Vista.

Meanwhile, Venezuela called on Brazil Saturday to provide "corresponding guarantees to Venezuelan nationals and take measures to safeguard and secure their families and belongings."

Tensions are rising in Latin America over migration triggered by the crises in Venezuela and in Nicaragua.

Peru and Ecuador are halting immigrants at the border by requiring them to present passports, which many lack, instead of identity cards.

Last week alone, 20,000 Venezuelans entered Peru, authorities said. On Sunday, 18 undocumented Venezuelans were detained in the capital Lima, according to police.

Source(s): AFP