AMERICA/BRAZIL - One among thousands of Haitian immigrants carried the Olympic torch

Tuesday, 21 June 2016 refugees   human trafficking   poverty   earthquake  

Manaus (Agenzia Fides) - Five years after leaving Haiti and beginning a new life in northern Brazil, Abdias Dolce carried the Olympic Torch through the streets of Manaus on Sunday, June 19, thus representing, as he said, over 40,000 immigrants from Haiti who came to Brazil following the earthquake that devastated their home country in 2010.
Father Valdecy Molinari, priest of the Parroquia de Sao Geraldo Manaus, committed to helping immigrants, estimated that about 10,000 people from Haiti have passed through the city since 2010. Two thousand remain there, while the others have travelled on to other parts of Brazil in search of employment.
Father Molinari, reports the note sent to Fides, says that many come through human traffickers, known as "coyotes", and a large group in a clandestine manner. "There are people who earn a lot of money with the Haitians: a visa, which costs $ 200, they ask 2,500", said the priest. According to the pastor, the gangs are organized in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo.
The Pastoral Care of Migrants of the Catholic Church, informs that the majority of Haitians who arrive in Manaus have jobs in the construction industry in the southern states of Brazil, as well as in Rio Grande do Sul, Parana and Santa Catarina. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 21/06/2016)


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