Roundup: LatAm offers safe haven to refugees fleeing war-torn Syria

At least four countries in Latin America, including Chile, Brazil, Venezuela and Paraguay, have expressed their willingness to take in more refugees from the Middle East.

Latin American countries have offered refuges to Syrian families fleeing violence in their homeland while Europe grappled with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of mainly Middle Easterners displaced by U.S.-led direct or indirect military interventions in the region.

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday said "we are going to work ... to be able to take in an important number of the refugees, because we understand that the tragedy is a tragedy for all humanity."

Following her announcement, Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz said the government would devise a "feasible plan as soon as possible, but to do these things right requires time."

Local media reported Chile was considering initially offering haven to between 100 and 150 Syrian families. The Syrian community in Chile currently numbers 80,000, Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported, adding that the number "will undoubtedly increase soon."

In 2008, the country sheltered 117 Palestinian refugees stranded in the desert between Iraq and Syria, after Iraqi authorities confiscated their travel documents, according to Chilean news network 24Hours.

Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East region, with 450,000 Palestinians living in the country.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has offered asylum to 20,000 Syrian refugees. The South American nation has a tradition of helping the dispossessed. Following the Israeli invasion into Gaza in 2014, Venezuela took in many injured or orphaned Palestinian children.

Brazil, which has received more than 2,000 Syrian refugees since 2011, said its door was open to more families.

In a message marking the Brazilian Independence Day on Monday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said, "even in tough times of crisis, such as now, we will welcome refugees with open arms."

Sao Paulo has a large Syrian community, which began to arrive in the 19th century and contributed significantly to the state capital, (which will) now start receiving new families fleeing the war, according to Brazil's G1 news website.

G1 spotlighted the story of refugee Talal Al Tinawi, who arrived in Brazil a year and eight months ago with his children, and now has a seven-month old girl, a "Brazilian of Syrian origin."

Tinawi's family cooks and sells Middle Eastern food, and he dreams of opening a restaurant. He said "I want to stay and live here. So, I have a plan for the future".

Brazil grants humanitarian visas before refugees leave the Middle East region, so they usually do not need to venture through a vast ocean separating the two countries. Brazil operates a consular office in Beirut, Lebanon.

On Wednesday, Paraguay became the latest Latin American country to offer shelter to the refugees.

Acting Foreign Minister Oscar Cabello Sarubbi said his government "is open to receiving the refugees, but in reasonable quantities that the country can really admit."

Argentina and Uruguay also have programs in place for accepting the refugees.

A refugee crisis is going on as tens of thousands of refugees from the Middle East have fled their war-rifted homelands to Europe. European countries have been horse-trading over the number of refugees they would accept, while the United States is even slower to respond to the crisis of mainly its own making. Endi