A Brazilian army spokesman said about 900 Venezuelans were expected in the border state of Roraima yesterday, a steep rise in the daily average.
Venezuela is suffering one of the worst economic crises in Latin American history with hyperinflation tipped to reach one million per cent this year.
In response, the left-wing government led by President Nicolas Maduro has launched new bank notes with five zeros taken off, which became legal tender yesterday.
The new sovereign bolivar is anchored to Venezuela’s widely discredited cryptocurrency, the petro.
Turmoil has driven tens of thousands of Venezuelans across the border, putting strain on small towns in the area. Residents in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima attacked Venezuelan immigrants after a store owner was stabbed in a robbery blamed on four immigrants.
But Brazil’s institutional security minister General Sergio Etchegoyen today said it would not close the border to desperate Venezuelans.
