iciHaiti - Migration : Stranded at the border between Peru and Bolivia, 7 Haitians died

7 Haitian migrants have died in the past three weeks, stranded in Peru, on the Bolivian border, in the Andean highlands, paralyzed by roadblocks and demonstrations against the Government of Dina Boluarte said Saturday, February 4th Iris Baño Romero, High Commissioner of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Peru.

Six of those deaths, including a minor, occurred in Desaguadero, a small town that connects Peru and Bolivia by a bridge in the South American Andes. The seventh death occurred in Juli, also on the border with Bolivia.

These Haitians, explained Baño Romero, lost their lives due to a mixture of situations such as the difficult access to food despite the generosity of the population, the absence of accommodation, health problems and the conditions weather and extreme life for a Haitian in this village on the shores of Lake Titicaca, at 3,800 meters above sea level with temperatures between 3 and 14 degrees Celsius.

In addition, two other people have been hospitalized since Thursday with pneumonia and one of them is in critical condition.

The barricades on the Desaguadero International Bridge, south of Lake Titicaca, are one of the roadblocks that remain active in Peru amid protests against the Peruvian government.

Baño Romero notes that the Haitian migrants present in Desaguadero have already spent, in general, several years in Chile or Brazil and are in Peru in transit, with the intention for the most part of continuing their journey towards the United States.

S/ iciHaiti