A group of Haitian women accompanied by their children came across the Napo River to the city of El Coca, in Orellana.
The Brazilian Amazon was their migration route to Ecuador and more citizens are expected to arrive in the next few hours.
The studies carried out on this subject revealed that Brazil was the destination country and Ecuador, for example, was considered a transit country. But over the years, our country has already become a destination country.
Haitian migration has historically been caused by structural factors of a political and economic nature that have relapsed into recurrent crises such as coups d’état, dictatorial regimes, foreign occupations, international isolation, and trade sanctions. Added to this are natural disasters that have plunged the country into a humanitarian crisis, such as the one that occurred in 2010.
An article in the Journal of the Andean Center for International Studies, in 2017, points out that historically Haitian immigration to Ecuador has been marginal and that since 2008, the entry of Haitians into the country has increased.
Since then, Ecuador has progressively become a point of passage on the Haitian journey to Brazil.
The stay in Ecuador was variable since in certain cases it was limited to a few days, while in others it was extended to several months.
Based on data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), it is possible to identify two spikes in the entry of Haitian migrants to the country. The first rebound occurred between 2008 and 2009, a period in which the number of entries went from 270 to 1.257. This first increase is explained by the reform of the Ecuadorian immigration policy, in particular the elimination of tourist visas for foreign citizens in June 2008.
The second rebound occurs between 2012 and 2013. In this period the number of entries goes from 3.023 to 14.099. The reasons for this second increase are given because in 2013, Brazil granted humanitarian visas from the Quito consulate.
The number of Haitians entering Ecuador has been increasing in relation to the number of departures, but at the same time the country is ceasing to be a transit country to be a destination country, since there would be fewer departures from Haitians.
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