This is the second in a two-part series. You can read part one here.
Venezuela became a country of emigrants quickly, after having a great history of immigration. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, Venezuela was identified as the recipient of migrants from countries such as Portugal, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Colombia. Policies in favor of immigration and the oil boom made the country attractive on the Caribbean coast. With Chávez’s arrival in power in 1999, an inverse phenomenon began to be observed, but not as noticeable as in the early years.
Around 2006, the exodus became more pronounced, but it was not until about 3 years ago that the number of Venezuelans leaving the country increased to a greater extent. According to data handled by the Venezuelan Diaspora Observatory, until recently, there was a displacement of about 100,000 Venezuelans per year. The change was generated from 2016, when they began to count more than 1 million Venezuelan migrants per year.
The accelerated deterioration of the country, the socio-political crisis and hyperinflation are the main causes of the growing exodus, causing the region not to be able to react in time. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recognizes in reports that many people have had to flee because of political persecution, insecurity, human rights violations, high rates of violence, problems with medical care, arbitrary detentions and torture, shortages of food and medicine, and the high cost of living.
In recent years, the poverty rate has increased with a steady rise in food and medicine prices. According to the IMF, by the end of 2018 Venezuela had an inflation rate of 929.790%. On the other hand, the Central Bank of Venezuela only recognized inflation at 130.000%, after years of not presenting statistics.
“Everything is dollarized but people earn in local currency, “bolivares”. For example, a professor earns 7 dollars a month, which doesn’t make sense, and that places Venezuelans in the non-existent range of hyper-poverty,” points out sociologist and coordinator of the Venezuelan Diaspora Observatory, Tomás Páez.
Closing the borders for Venezuelans
Venezuelan migration is the largest observed in Latin America to date. One of the biggest has been the Cuban exodus, with approximately 1.5 million migrants, but this has occurred over 60 years and not in less than a decade as in the case of Venezuela. UNHCR figures, with 4.6 million Venezuelan migrants, do not necessarily track every individual. Numbers are likely to be higher as some sources do not prosecute people with irregular status. Other organizations such as the Venezuelan Diaspora Observatory handle data that place migration at 5.7 million Venezuelans, distributed in 90 countries and 300 cities.
With the deepening of the crisis in Venezuela, the measures taken by the countries of the region are also increasing. According to studies conducted by the IACHR and Human Rights Watch, Venezuelans have seen their access permits and the granting of legal documents or asylums reduced. “In addition, many Venezuelans are leaving in very perverse conditions without medical attention,” sociologist Tomás Páez points out.
Countries where Venezuelans had income facilities are demanding visas, apparently as a humanitarian document, but with more detailed conditions to allow access. The procedures in some cases can have quite long waiting times. So far, some of the countries that require visas for Venezuelans are Ecuador, Bonaire, Honduras, Curacao, Aruba, Guatemala, Chile, Canada, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, the United States, Peru, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Guyana.
The migratory flow presents variations with the requirements of visas. “The formal or legal entry has decreased. Complete families have been received already with a visa processed in the Ecuadorian consulates, but the informal entry rate has risen drastically. It was of almost 2% and now it can be more than 15%, where coyoteros and police officers are charging vaccines for their illegal entry,” indicates in the particular case of Ecuador Daniel Regalado, president of the Venezuelan Civil Association in Ecuador.
Venezuela has closed its borders with Colombia, Brazil, Bonaire, Curaçao and Aruba because of political disagreements. These measures are viewed with concern by the IACHR, since they prevent people from having the freedom to leave the territory when they want.
The benefits of diaspora
Although in some countries Venezuelans are seen as a potential threat to nationals’ jobs, many have benefited from young workers, entrepreneurs or trained professionals. For example, in Chile and Argentina many Venezuelans apply to practice medicine in distant and small cities, which are not much requested by doctors in those countries.
In Ecuador, a large percentage of Venezuelans have begun ventures due to various professional and social factors. According to the president of the Venezuelan Civil Association in Ecuador, Daniel Regalado, “All migration generates changes, and at the same time enrichment in its economy. Venezuelan investment in the country has surpassed others that had culturally positioned themselves, including the USA.”
According to expert evaluations, diasporas are positive, benefiting the host country, the migrants and the origin nation, as well as reducing global poverty. Sociologist Tomás Páez mentions that “Venezuela is the best example of how diasporas contribute to the development of countries… Venezuela is inexplicable without the presence of Spanish, Italians, Portuguese, Colombians, Peruvians, and Ecuadorians, among others.”
Páez also points out that migrants dynamize productive sectors and contribute to technological diffusion, entrepreneurship and cultural exchange. “The latest data from the Central Bank of Chile and Peru indicate the immense contribution that the Venezuelan diaspora has made to the GDP of those countries… we are talking about important percentages of GDP growth.”
Recipients of the Venezuelan diaspora and global collaboration
According to the IACHR’s proposals, the governments of the region must agree on a collective and unified solution with measures that guarantee temporary protection, with a legal status for established terms. They also propose the implementation of a system to improve the reception and distribution of financial costs generated by Venezuelans entering these countries.
During the International Solidarity Conference on the Venezuelan Refugee and Migrant Crisis, held in October 2019, the International Organization for Migration, the European Union, and UNHCR stressed the importance of regional consensus and collaboration from external global sources, in order to have a coordinated and supportive response where responsibilities are shared.
Experts predict that migration will continue to grow as long as Venezuela maintains the same political model. When desperation and decisions between life and death are related, it is difficult for diasporas to stop at border controls. The intentions of Venezuelan migrants cannot be generalized, neither can the xenophobic atmosphere awakened in some localities be disproportionate, since it is not the entire people who threaten integrity and human rights, but rather focused groups where nationalism and hatred towards the diverse is prevailed.
Image credit: Alisdare Hickson