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Venezuelan refugee camp in Carcelén has been dismantled
Posted On 19 Nov 2018
Ecuadornews:
Ecuadorianauthorities relocated a group of Venezuelans who were on the outskirts of aland terminal in the north of Quito and took them to temporary transit centersto stay in better conditions, a source from the Ministry of Economic Inclusiontold Efe.
SilvanaHaro, zone 9 coordinator of the MIES, said that last Wednesday they went to thesettlement of Carcelén where they confirmed that seventy Venezuelans livedthere in five family groups, including seven children and adolescents, sixpeople with disabilities and six pregnant women.
On the night of that same day, a family of eleven people decided to travel to the coastal province of Esmeraldas, on the border with Colombia.
Authorities from different Ecuadorian institutions attended the camp today to offer the Venezuelan citizens the transfer to temporary centers before the rainy season that the capital experiences, where yesterday a hailstorm affected several areas of the historic center, while in the north a heavy downpour fell.
“The situation they were going through is quite complex, precarious and unhealthy. We were able to identify that many people are suffering from respiratory diseases, especially children, “Haro said, noting that there were no violent acts in the mobilization of the migrants who occupied the area at the beginning of last July.
However, in some cases they detected “hostility characteristic of the anguish and worry generated by the uncertainty that they may spend time in a space and then not knowing where to go,” she explained.
And she recalled that before the “guided intervention” of today, on August 11 some 200 Venezuelans were relocated from the same place to temporary centers.
Haro today verified the relocation of 34 Venezuelans and expressed his hope that during the course of the day the same thing will happen with the rest, because “beyond the occupation of the space, they are unworthy situations in which they find themselves”.
She explained that the migrants were “under plastic tents, with mattresses on the floor on plastic. We found rodents, unhealthy conditions in which they were living. “
The secretary of security and governability of the Municipality of Quito, Juan Zapata, clarified that it is not an eviction but a “guided intervention” in which several State institutions participate, as well as the Red Cross.
“If they had no other option would be, perhaps, logical that they decide to stay here, but has life options and better human conditions. I think this is not human, they are not worthy conditions, “said Zapata, commenting that they found rats in the camp.
According to figures from the Foreign Ministry, “between 2014 and 2018, more than 1,200,000 Venezuelans entered Ecuador,” of which, “between 230,000 and 250,000 remained in the country as of October 31st.”
Next Thursday, Quito will host the II International Technical Meeting on Human Mobility of Venezuelan Citizens in the Americas.
The meeting will end on November 23 and will include the participation of the special representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Venezuelan migrants and refugees in the region, Eduardo Stein.
Quitowas also last September, the headquarters of the I meeting on Venezuelanmigration attended by eleven countries, an appointment to which the Governmentof Caracas did not send a delegate despite being invited. (I)
