President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday (11) that Brazil will continue to welcome Venezuelan immigrants seeking refuge in the country. In an interview with North FM Radiofrom Manaus, Lula said he hopes the neighboring country “returns to normality”.
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs [Mauro Vieira] “The government has been guided and determined by the Presidency of the Republic to treat with great respect the people who are coming to Brazil out of necessity to survive. You know that human beings are somewhat nomadic, when they have nowhere to eat, when they have nowhere to work, they look for other places,” said Lula.
“These people who are coming here will have to be treated well and the federal government has an obligation to help the state of Roraima to take care of the education of these people, to take care of the maintenance of these people, because we do not want these people to come here and suffer even more need than they already did in Venezuela,” added the president.
Without giving a date, Lula said he will visit Roraima and talk to Governor Antonio Denarium about the issue. “So that we can definitely treat these thousands of Venezuelans who are in Brazil with great responsibility and respect. And I hope that Venezuela returns to normal and that these people can return to Venezuela as soon as possible,” said Lula in reference to economic and social crisis and political instability in the neighboring country.
In July, presidential elections were held in Venezuela, in a election marked by suspicions of fraud. Lula says not to recognize the reelection of President Nicolás Maduro until the country’s authorities present the minutes with the voting data by electoral table.
The cities of Boa Vista and Pacaraima, in Roraima, are the main entry points for Venezuelans seeking better living conditions in Brazil. To provide a humanitarian response to the demands that arrive across the border, the Brazilian government is carrying out Operation Acolhida, in partnership with more than 120 national and international organizations, civil society and the private sector.
Second data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM)United Nations agency, 1,134,532 Venezuelan migrants entered Brazil from January 2017 to July 2024. Of this total, 532,773 have already left the country.
Operation Acolhida is structured around three axes: border management, reception and interiorization. Between April 2018 and March 2024, more than 125 thousand people benefited from the operation. federal government’s internalization strategy. Some of the immigrants end up staying in the operation’s ten shelters distributed in Boa Vista and Pacaraima, but, according to government data, the Venezuelan population outside the shelters increased by 8% in January of this year.
Combating drought
On Tuesday (10), President Lula fulfilled his agenda in Amazonas, visiting communities to talk to residents, and announced measures to combat drought in the region. President said he will indeed create a National Climate Authority to act in the face of extreme natural events, in addition to establishing a legal statute for the climate emergency, via a provisional measure to be sent to the National Congress.
Among the announcements made by the federal government during the president’s visit to Amazonas are the distribution of 150 portable water purifiers, with the capacity to purify up to 5,000 liters of water per day, and the start of four maintenance dredging projects on the Amazon and Solimões rivers.
The interview with North FM Radio It was scheduled to take place during the president’s visit to Manaus, but, given his busy schedule, it was transferred to this Wednesday and held via videoconference, with Lula speaking from Brasília.
