Coping with two million Venezuelan refugees
Other Latin American countries need help to absorb people fleeing from repression and chaos
WITH its forbidding bulk and high walls, the former hostel for immigrants stands out amid the abandoned factories and jumble of railway lines of Brás, in the heart of São Paulo. Now a museum, between 1887 and 1978 it received 2.5m foreigners of 70 nationalities. After delousing and registration, most were swiftly hired to work on coffee plantations or other farms.
Like the United States, Latin America was once a region of immigration, forced and free. African slaves were sent in large numbers to Brazil and the Caribbean rim. Italians, Spaniards, Germans, east Europeans, Jews and Syrio-Lebanese all came, as did Japanese and Chinese. Many of Latin America’s biggest companies were founded by immigrants.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Venezuela’s new export"
From the October 4th 2018 edition
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