17/07/2020
The New Humanitarian | COVID-19 shifts Peru’s internal migration into reverse
Speaking about those who want to leave the shanty town, Caillahua said: “There are no other
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survive.” Caillahua, a father of two, said that for now he will stay put.
Red tape and scrambled plans
For workers who leave, getting back to their original communities has been complicated. Those
travelling overland independently must quarantine when they enter each new provincial region,
often living under unsanitary conditions, said representatives of the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) in Peru.
At the border between Huancavelica and Ayacucho, mountainous regions southeast of Lima, some
60 people were in quarantine in large tents without access to drinking water, sanitation, blankets,
or mattresses, said Francesca Scardeoni of ICRC in Peru.
“They are not informed,” Scardeoni said at the end of May, speaking of people in the camp. “People
were in a state of despair.” The returnees asked ICRC representatives for information about
protocols, she said, but aid workers were unable to help.
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“Authorities who are supposed to manage the ‘retornantes’ are not giving a proper answer,” she
explained. “It is a very di cult issue. Health conditions are really precarious. We see the conditions
at the camps as a possible threat to their health and their lives.”
The ICRC has delivered blankets, mattresses, and other items to quarantine centres in isolated
villages in the region.
In Ayacucho, where Scardeoni heads the group’s o ce, some 11,000 people registered with local
authorities for assistance to return to their communities, she said. ICRC estimated that only 1,000
to 1,500 have been able to return via formal channels, after receiving public assistance and
quarantining.
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