Desperate Venezuelans flood northern Brazil [View all]

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https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2018/0320/Desperate-Venezuelans-flood-northern-Brazil

March 20, 2018 | Pacaraima, Brazil —Hungry and destitute, tens of thousands of victims of Venezuela's unrelenting political and economic crisis are trying their luck in Brazil – a country where they do not speak the language, conditions are often poor and there are few border towns to receive them.

Many arrive weak from hunger and with no money for a hotel, food, or the $9 bus ride to Boa Vista, the capital of the Brazilian state of Roraima, known in Venezuelan circles as a place that offers three meals a day. In dozens of interviews over four days, many said they had not had more than one meal a day for the last year.

Kritce Montero traveled with her baby Hector and her young daughter 18 hours by bus from Maturín, a city in northeast Venezuela. After spending the night sleeping on the ground in Pacaraima, a dusty border town in the Amazon, they took another bus 130 miles to Boa Vista.

"We are desperate. We could no longer buy food," said Ms. Montero, adding it had been months since Hector had any formula or diapers.