Venezuelan Migrants Suffer Backlash as Peru’s Economic Boom Ends

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan migrants who sought refuge in Peru are coming under attack from politicians accusing them of stoking crime and stealing jobs, as Latin America’s biggest-ever exodus stokes xenophobia.

In the latest outburst, the Mayor of Lima’s most populous district, San Juan de Lurigancho, said last month that Venezuelans in the area aren’t bona fide political refugees but rather “lumpen” consumers of drugs and alcohol, who steal to fund their highs.

The day before, a town assembly in the Andean region of Cuzco voted to expel Venezuelans from the area, blaming them for rising crime.

More than 4 million Venezuelan citizens have left their country in recent years to escape hunger and violence, with 5,000 more leaving every day. That’s strained public finances in countries like Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, whose economies are struggling amid weak global demand.

Peru enjoyed the fastest expansion among major South American economies over the past decade. But growth fell to its lowest rate since 2009 earlier this year, as Chinese demand for the nation’s copper declined and corruption scandals damped infrastructure investment.

In January, an outbreak of xenophobic rioting in Ecuador sent Venezuelan migrants fleeing and led the government to pledge tougher curbs on immigration.

Easy Scapegoats

Last year, in a border town in northern Brazil, locals chased Venezuelans and burned their belongings in the streets, prompting hundreds to flee. In Colombia, Venezuelan children are often bullied in school.

“Migrants around the world are used as an easy scapegoat,” said Jessica Bolter, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. “Countries that are already dealing with economic crisis can certainly see people turn more quickly against migrants.”

Peru has about 860,000 Venezuelan migrants, more than anywhere except Colombia. Elsewhere in the country, authorities have gone out of their way to make Venezuelans feel unwelcome.

The Mayor of Chiclayo in northern Peru Oct. 25 announced more police operations targeting undocumented migrants, and called on the migration authorities to deport a group of Venezuelan street hawkers.

No Legal Basis

Earlier this year in the cities of Huancayo and Cuzco, authorities sought to impose curbs on the hiring of migrants by local companies. In Pisco, local authorities said migrants must put their names on a register as a condition for staying.

None of these measures had any legal basis, but they are helping to fuel discrimination against migrants, said Percy Castillo, the human rights advocate at Peru’s Ombudsman Office. There’s no evidence that Venezuelans are more likely to commit crime than locals, he said.

The number of migrants entering Peru dropped sharply in July after the government began demanding Venezuelans apply for a new humanitarian visa before entering the country.

President Martin Vizcarra said in September that Peru had reached its capacity for attending to migrants.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Quigley in Lima at jquigley8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Matthew Bristow, Walter Brandimarte

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.