A rude reception awaits many Venezuelans fleeing their country

PACARAIMA is a speck of a town in the Brazilian Amazon on the border with Venezuela. Recently, it has been the entry point for tens of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing hunger, violence and hyperinflation at home. Most continue by foot 220km (135 miles) on the motorway to Boa Vista, the capital of the state of Roraima, where they struggle to survive by unloading lorries, hawking crafts and selling sex. About 2,000 of the poorest have stayed in Pacaraima, pitching tents in the streets. That has strained the town’s resources and the tolerance of its 12,000 inhabitants.

On August 17th several men, apparently Venezuelans, robbed and beat a shop-owner. At an anti-immigration march the next day, hundreds of locals threw stones at migrants’ tents and set fire to their belongings. More than a thousand Venezuelans fled into the jungle or back over the border. Their makeshift homes burned to the ground. Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, sent 60 troops to restore order.