QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in three provinces due to an unusually high volume of Venezuelan migrants crossing over the northern border with Colombia after fleeing the OPEC nation’s economic crisis. As part of the contingency plan, extra immigration officials will be hired and more doctors, social workers and psychologists will be sent to the Carchi, Pinchincha and El Oro provinces along Ecuador's border with Colombia, to assist sick and vulnerable migrants. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, said a daily average of up to 3,000 Venezuelan men, women and children had entered Ecuador this year but that the already “massive influx” was now accelerating further.
Ecuador declares a state of emergency over increases in migrant entry from Venezuela.