BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil will grant residence visas to thousands of poor Haitian migrants who entered the country illegally from Bolivia and Peru looking for work, government officials said yesterday.
Latin America’s emerging economic power, which only a decade ago saw its own citizens emigrating to escape economic crisis, is now drawing thousands of Haitians fleeing their quake-ravaged Caribbean nation.
Haitians who used to migrate to Miami or New York now are looking for opportunities in Brazil, which has enjoyed years of growing economic prosperity and attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment.
The Haitian migrants endured a long journey down the Andes mountains from Ecuador and through the jungles of Peru and Bolivia to cross into Brazil at remote border towns.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is still struggling to lift itself from the rubble left by an earthquake two years ago that killed roughly 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless.
Brazil has boosted aid to Haiti in recent years as part of a drive to increase its political and economic influence in the hemisphere. The Brazilian army is leading a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Haiti.
