Venezuelan migrants sift through garbage in faraway Ecuador in rebuild their lives
A group of Venezuelans has formed an association of recyclers near the city of Ibarra to protect themselves from exploitation and earn a livelihood.
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Juan Ramírez uses all his strength to move the blue plastic trash containers toward him. The stench is intense, but he does not wear a mask. He also lacks gloves. Nevertheless, he opens the bags and collects everything he can recycle – paper, plastic, metal, cardboard – to place it in his cart.
When a container is too heavy, Juan takes a small jump and puts half his body inside the structure to search for anything that might have a second life. In Venezuela, he was a merchant; in Ecuador, he is a recycler and president of RECIPRI, an association of Venezuelan recyclers from the Priorato parish, 10 minutes from the city of Ibarra in Imbabura.
Juan is 48 years old, and according to the inter-agency coordination platform for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, R4V, he is part of the nearly 445,000 Venezuelans who arrived in Ecuador seeking peace. However, in recent years, almost nothing has been left of the once-called “island of peace”.
Priorato does not appear on any road signs. For those living in the northern Sierra city of Ibarra, the parish is marked by the Yahuarcocha lagoon – less than a 10-minute walk from its central park. The lagoon is known for the...
