“The racist attacks on Venezuelan migrants in Roraima, Brazil, require special attention from the institutions and the international community. Every frontier of the world, in fact, is turning into a delicate place where instead of confrontation and acceptance, the inter-ethnic hatred wants to be master “.
This is said by Sister Neusa de Fatima Mariano, superior general of the Scalabrinian Missionary Sisters, a Congregation that since its foundation deals with welcoming migrants.
“On 8 February an arson attack struck a Venezuelan family, including a 4-year-old boy,” he added. “It seems like a similar story that happened a few days earlier in Boa Vista. In recent months, many Venezuelan families are trying to escape from a harsh political, economic and humanitarian crisis. The response of the Brazilian institutions is not yet sufficient and fears are unfounded in the community of Roraima, the border town where they come to ask for help. We need coordinated interventions related to the integration and analysis of the greatest vulnerabilities, as well as to accept the exhortation of Pope Francis not to be afraid, to open up to the other, refining the look that makes me see the other not as an invader, but as a person “.
Several communities (from the academic ones, to the Caritas, to the pastoral activities) have signed a document where they repudiate these xenophobic acts. Among them, the Institute of Migration and Human Rights, of the Scalabrinian nuns based in Brasilia
