The Jesuit Service for Refugees and Migrants (SRJM) denounced the existence of a trafficking network of Haitians in South America, having as entry point the Equator or Chile.

The Haitian Wooldy Edson Louidor, regional coordinator of advocacy and communication of Haiti within the SRJM for Latin America and the Caribbean said Friday during a press conference that they have documented cases of Haitians who have been abandoned in Peru or who are arrived in Brazil, after having entered by the Equator.

"There is an international network of Haitian trafficker who operates from Haiti, the Equator..." said Louidor.

Fernando León, national coordinator of Ecuador for the SRJM, declared last week that 33 Haitians aged 18 and 23 were released, they were locked in a house, they could not get out and had to do chores. They arrived in Ecuador with the promise that here they would be able to study, León denounced a "new form of slavery. "

The representative of SRJM indicates that the governments should conduct a regional strategy to make "a distinction between the perpetrators and victims, punish the perpetrators and protect the victims" given the growth of networks in South America.

Louidor indicates that before the earthquake of January 2010, there were about 75,000 Haitians in Latin America and that this number is increasing, even if there are no precise figures, because they cross borders in an irregular manner, which makes the calculation difficult.

According to the SRJM most of them left Haiti by the Dominican Republic or Cuba and go to South America via the Equator and Chile, and then pass through other countries like Peru, Venezuela and Brazil in search of work. Prior the Haitians went to French Guiana due to the ease of language, but now this country has tightened its immigration policy, that is why they are seeking new destinations such as Brazil.

Finally Louidor signal that Brazil has also tightened its immigration policy toward the Haitians who are regarded as "criminals" rather than providing humanitarian aid ... While León, welcomes the efforts of the Ecuadorian government in the treatment of Haitians by proposing the creation of a "humanitarian visa" for those fleeing the country for economic issues.

HL/ HaitiLibre