Venezuelans entering Ecuador and Peru would soon be required to show their passports, rather than national identity cards, the Ecuadorian government and Peruvian official sources said on Thursday, amid concerns over an influx of economic migrants.
Ecuador and Peru have hitherto allowed Venezuelans to enter using national identification cards, providing desperate Venezuelans with an easier route out of their crisis-stricken homeland.
“As of this Saturday, the government will require that anyone entering Ecuador present his or her passport,” Ecuadorian Minister of the Interior Mauro Toscanini said.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Integration later said that it would apply specifically to Venezuelans.
Ecuador earlier this month declared a state of emergency in three provinces after a spike in Venezuelan migrants crossing its border with Colombia high in the Andean mountains.
Up to 4,500 Venezuelans were crossing daily, compared with about 500 to 1,000 previously, authorities said.
A ministry official told local radio that about 600,000 Venezuelans had entered the country this year, with about 109,000 remaining.
Unable to afford flights and often earning a minimum wage of just a few dollars per month, Venezuelans have been taking days-long bus rides across South America, many passing through Ecuador on their way south to Peru or Chile.
Peru is also planning to require passports from Venezuelans soon, two government sources said on condition of anonymity ahead of a pending announcement.
Immigration officials estimated that there are nearly 400,000 Venezuelans in Peru, most of whom entered this year.
About 20 percent of Venezuelans have entered Peru without a passport, Peruvian Minister of the Interior Mauro Arturo Medina Guimaraes said earlier this week.
Venezuelans selling food or knick-knacks on the streets have become a common sight in Lima and Quito, raising fears among locals that the migrants could take their jobs and increase crime.
Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno is left-wing like Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but he has distanced himself from Caracas since taking office last year.
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra took office in March after former Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a vocal critic of Maduro, resigned amid a scandal.
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