MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil and Spain agree to a “truce” in migratory controls

Brazil and Spain have agreed to a “truce” on migration controls following a stand off between both countries regarding Brazilian and Spanish tourists.

Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim said that a truce had been reached with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos and in the coming days less rigid controls will be applied to Brazilians arriving in Spain. "Spaniard officials called me to find a solution. I interpret the call as a truce, an effort to diminish the number of Brazilians that are not admitted into Spain", said Amorim according to an interview published Thursday in O Globo. Amorim described the phone call by Mr. Moratinos as a "contention attitude" to avoid the situation evolving into a diplomatic incident. Almost 750 Brazilians have been deported so far from Spain and 3.000 in 2007, which motivated a formal complaint from the Brazilian government to the Spanish ambassador in Brasilia Ricardo Peidró. Brazilian president Lula da Silva, as happened previously with the United States migratory policy, ordered the principle of "reciprocity" to be instrumented and 27 Spaniards have been deported from Brazil in the last few days. In the coming days a "tacit agreement" will be implemented "to avoid excesses, to avoid ill treatments and violation of human rights", said Mr. Amorim. Last week 30 Brazilians, including scientists who had been invited to an academia congress were retained for over 24 hours in Madrid's Barajas airport before been deported.