Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
6
The Haitians were issued a document certifying their request for refugee status and their
registration at the Ministry of Labour, and were vaccinated against tropical diseases. For the
majority, however, the greater challenge continued to be the lack of funds to continue their
journey, a solution to which depended on the arrival of contractors in the city who would hire
them.
The routes used by Haitians to reach Brazil have changed over time, perhaps due to the
costs of the trip or the to the role played by the coyotes. The Haitians in Brasiléia have denounced
the greed and violence of some Peruvian police officers, who, in addition to money, usually seize
personal belongings, like clothes and sneakers, and threaten them with imprisonment.
Led by coyotes, others take a longer route through Argentina and Paraguay and enter
Brazil at Foz do Iguaçu (PR), or at Uruguaiana (RS), making the trip even more difficult. The
cost of this journey varies from three to five thousand dollars and can take days or months,
depending on how much money the emigrant has. Generally, the funds are raised with the help of
locally-based family members, by selling one’s property, or with the help of relatives who are
based in other countries, such as the United States. Some use savings from their temporary work
in the Dominican Republic or other Caribbean countries. Those who do not have these options
may take loans from a bank or a friend, and then have to live with the pressure of having to repay
the loan, often at high interest rates. If their money runs out in the middle of the journey, due to
extortion from the coyotes, they are forced to find work or ask for more funds from family
members. This shows that this migratory flow is organized as a family undertaking, where the
decision to emigrate may not be solely an individual decision but a collective one. This is why
emigration is part of Haiti’s migratory policy; the country depends economically on remittances
from emigrants, which account for about 18.2% of GNP (Corbin 2012: 48).
As in any migratory process, social networks formed by those already in Brazil and by
relatives and friends who remain in Haiti play an important role in the migratory flow. This is the
case of Michel, a 36-years-old originary from Gonaives, who reached Manaus in July 2012, after
a 45 days journey. Interestingly, his passport had only one stamp, clearly forged, indicating that
he had entered the country from Peru on January 12; that is, when the Brazilian government
announced restrictive measures limiting to 1,200 the number of work visas to be issued to
Haitians. Sitting on a bench at the São Sebastião square in downtown Manaus with a disoriented
gaze, he was perusing his address book when I took the liberty to approach him and ask in
Spanish what he was searching for. He showed me the telephone number of a friend with an 041
area code, which is in Paraná state. When I told him that his friend was very far away, he became
disraught. This reveals that many immigrants leave Haiti or other places with information or
references about an in-country relative or a contact. Notably, most of those interviewed did not
know where Tabatinga or Manaus were. Usually, their points of reference in Brazil are the cities
of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
