Days of work exceeding 16 hours a day. Workers and machines together indoors without ventilation. Workers who live inside the plants stacked without being able to leave during the day. The water they drink and the food they eat are discounted for low wages they receive. If they try to turn away, their employers threaten to call the Federal Police deport them to their country of origin. That is the reality of over 40 thousand Bolivian immigrants living in the city of Sao Paulo. However, it is estimated that the number of immigrants may exceed the total of 200 thousand.

And the worst is that due to poor conditions of work and life, they form the group that is more exposed to tuberculosis. In the health units in the neighborhoods where immigrants are installed, the Bolivian accounted for 58% of cases of tuberculosis.

Bolivia is in the 113th position in the ranking of the Human Development Index. So, to flee the economic crisis and political, leave their country of origin in Sao Paulo seeking a better life, far from the political instability of one of the poorest countries in the world. They are recruited by “coiotes” to come work in confections in the central regions of the city of Sao Paulo.

Despite the precarious life they have here, many of them prefer to work in Sao Paulo than return to Bolivia. Many send money to their families, but without being able to communicate with their families to explain the situation, many Bolivians end up being encouraged to leave their country, as the São Paulo is seen as a land of opportunity.

The Catholic Church, through the support of the Migrant Centre, offers help to immigrants by providing legal assistance and professional training as well as assist in regularization for Bolivians.

Central Region: high concentration of immigrants

The Bolivian immigration started up in the 60’s and since then has not stopped. In central regions of Sao Paulo you can find them on weekends meeting and celebrating typical festivals of their country
. Many of them have a dream of opening their own confections. A dream that is not so distant well as the first Bolivian immigrants are already owners of some companies in the region.