Since 2015, half a million Venezuelans have crossed the border into Brazil, i.e. approx. 10% of the estimated total of displaced Venezuelans worldwide, either to settle (over 250 thousand) or in transit to other countries. The majority crossed the border between the two countries in the cities of Santa Elena de Uairén (Venezuela) and Pacaraima (Brazil), arriving in the least populous of the Brazilian States: Roraima.
Roraima has a feeble infrastructure: with a little over 600 thousand inhabitants, and distant from the Brazilian economic centers, it has an economy dependent upon federal resources and inadequate governmental services, having, for instance, 4 ICU beds for every 100 thousand persons (the least in the whole country). Roraima Gini index is 0,567, showcasing social inequality, and over 30% of the state’s population is deemed as being in poverty. Roraima is the northernmost state of Brazil and shares its border with the southern part of Venezuela.
The combination of the intrinsic vulnerability of forced migration, as in the case of Venezuelans, with the context of social and economic challenges of Roraima sets a testing scenario in regular times; in light of the COVID-19 pandemic the situation has the potential of a humanitarian catastrophe.
