Thousands of people who fled the ongoing crisis in Venezuela are now living in precarious conditions and struggling to access medical care in Brazil’s Roraima state.
The northern state of Roraima is the main gateway into Brazil for Venezuelans fleeing the ongoing economic, political, and social crisis in their country.
According to official figures, about 40,000 migrants and asylum seekers now live in the state capital, Boa Vista.
Roraima has the least developed economy in Brazil and a fragile health system that lacks doctors and essential medical supplies.
In Boa Vista alone, some 23,000 Venezuelans currently live in damaged buildings and more than 3,000 live on the street.
Many people living on the city’s streets find refuge in an area behind Boa Vista’s bus station.
From 1870 to 1930, between 2 million and 3 million immigrants settled in Brazil. While most came from Europe, significant numbers also arrived from the Middle East and Asia.
Shifts in arrivals from around the region - including many unauthorized migrants - have tested the ability of Brazilian local, state, and federal leaders to adapt.
In 2017, nearly 736,000 registered immigrants lived in Brazil, while many hundreds of thousands more were in the country without formal documentation.
The political and economic crisis in neighboring Venezuela has driven growing numbers to seek asylum in Brazil.
In the first three months of 2019, according to official data reviewed by the Associated Press, Rio de Janeiro police killed 434 citizens.
In February 2018, then-President Michel Temer signed a decree allowing the military to take control of security in Rio de Janeiro.
People like to blame poverty for the high crime rates in Brazil's cities.
Drug use and trafficking are factors that lead to increased crime, but it is the drug traffickers’ desire to control territories that leads to high levels of violence.
The number of violent crimes committed by refugees and immigrants in Brazil is low enough to be statistically irrelevant.
Cezar was shot, with a high velocity rifle, in front of his house in the favela of Complexo do Alemao.
Cezar worked as a chemical enginner in Ciudad Guayana.
Cezar took a bus from Boa Vista to Rio de Janeiro.
The process of seeking asylum was taking too long for Cezar to stay in the border town - so he looking to move away from the pressures.
Rio de Janeiro is a huge seaside city in Brazil, famed for its Copacabana and Ipanema beaches.
Cezar Cilberto has a wife and one daughter aged 5.
Cezar and his family left Venezuela and headed for Brazil in hope of being granted asylum and starting a new life.
One in five Rio residents live in favelas, which have long gotten the short end of the stick as far as public services go.
Brazil’s government estimates 40 percent of homes in the country are not connected to a sewage system.
One thing that's been stopping health officials from dealing with trash and standing water in favelas is a fear of crime.
Cezar daughter has suffered from several bouts of illness.
Samba and Carnival are just two traditions thought to have originated from the favelas.
A favela is a unique, low and middle-income, and unregulated type of slum neighborhood in Brazil that has experienced historical governmental neglect.
People say the favelas actually “have the best views”.
Cezar and his small family left Ciudad Guayana with very little money.
Those seeking a better life in Brazil have sold TVs, cell phones, clothes—everything they own—to pay for the trip.
A bus ride from Ciudad Guayana to Santa Elena can take two days.
Cezar got a job in Rio de Janeiro as a delivery driver.
The Complexo do Alemao, one of the most notorious slums in Rio, has been the scene of almost daily clashes since a police crackdown on the Red Command drug faction.
Brazil's unemployment rate increased to 12.7 percent in the first quarter of 2019, reaching 13.4 million people.
