Fillipo Grandi talked with Venezuelan Indigenous people and closely verified the humanitarian response offered in support of the refugees welcomed in Roraima.
Roraima Humanitarian Mission has been active since 2016 in attendance to the Venezuelan immigrants that cross the border seeking a better life in Brazil.
About 1,900 people currently receive humanitarian support in the five shelters managed by Fraternidade – International Humanitarian Federation in Roraima. The work receives support from the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an entity of the United Nations.
The coming of Fillipo Grandi to Brazil is part of a strategic visit of the head of UNHCR to South America. Last week, he was in Chile, where he also met governmental leaders and other humanitarian organizations that work for Venezuelan refugees.
The goal is to have “more support from the international community for countries and communities that shelter Venezuelans”, according to communication released by the UNHCR.
For the missionary Clara, the General Coordinator of Roraima Humanitarian Mission, the visit of Fillipo Grandi to the Pintolandia Shelter places the High Commissioner in direct contact with the reality of the Venezuelan refugees, especially the Indigenous immigration.
“It is a visit that will bring greater visibility to the gravity of the situation of the Venezuelan immigrants. The Indigenous Chiefs handed a letter to him with several requests on behalf of the Venezuelan Indigenous people affected by the forced immigration. The presence of Fillipo Grandi here must place even greater focus on the crisis in Venezuela and in this way will attract more support for emergency actions of help to refugees not only here in Roraima, but also in other regions of Brazil that have given an example of welcoming and integration through the process of movement of the immigrants to other Brazilian states”, highlights Clara.
More than five hundred Venezuelans currently live in the Pintolandia Shelter in Boa Vista. Most of them are children. Fraternidade is also active in the humanitarian response in the city of Pacaraima, on the Venezuelan border, in the Indigenous shelter known as Janokoida, currently with 443 Indigenous people.
