Ecuador opened a “humanitarian corridor” on Friday and lifted its own entry restrictions on the masses of migrants escaping Venezuela’s free-falling economy and streaming towards the Peruvian border, hours before Lima tightens its border controls.
Ecuadoran Interior Minister Mauro Toscanini said there were currently 35 busloads of migrants on the move along the route authorities had opened to Peru.
“We are going to continue as long as we can,” said the minister, whose country is being crossed by tens of thousands of Venezuelans seeking to join relatives and take up work opportunities in Peru, Chile and beyond.
Peru is one of the region’s fastest growing economies, projecting 4.7 percent growth next year.
Venezuelans trying to cross the Peruvian border after a midnight deadline will be required to produce a passport; until then, an identity card will suffice.
However, they will no longer need to produce a passport to enter Ecuador from Colombia.
Ecuador — where close to half a million people have fled this year alone — moved to ease the migrant crisis by lifting its week-long requirement for Venezuelans to produce a passport, which prompted Peru to announce its own identical measure.
Peru’s new passport rules threaten to leave tens of thousands of Venezuelans stranded in Ecuador and Colombia, who are already inundated with migrants from the crisis-wracked country.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will set up a special UN team to ensure a coordinated regional response to the crisis, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.