Venezuelan refugee crisis
The Venezuelan refugee crisis, the largest recorded refugee crisis in the Americas,[6] refers to the emigration of millions of Venezuelans from their native country during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro since the Bolivarian Revolution.[1][2][7] The revolution was an attempt by Chávez and later Maduro to establish a cultural and political hegemony,[8][9] which culminated in the crisis in Venezuela.[10] The resulting refugee crisis has been compared to those faced by Cuban exiles, Syrian refugees and those affected by the European migrant crisis.[11][12] The Bolivarian government has denied any migratory crisis, stating that the United Nations and others are attempting to justify foreign intervention within Venezuela.[13]
Date
1999–present
(main phase since 2015)
Bolivarian diaspora
Venezuelan exodus
- 7.71 million Venezuelans emigrating[4][5]
- Refugee crisis in countries neighboring Venezuela
- Human capital flight
- 10 countries impose visa requirements and entry restrictions on Venezuelans
- The United States, Canada, Spain and several Latin American countries start accepting expired Venezuelan passports for entering the country
- The Colombian government announces that babies born to Venezuelan refugees will be granted citizenship
Newsweek described the "Bolivarian diaspora" as "a reversal of fortune on a massive scale", where the "reversal" is a comparison with Venezuela's high immigration rate during the 20th century.[2] Initially, upper class Venezuelans and scholars emigrated during Chávez's presidency, but middle- and lower-class Venezuelans began to leave as conditions worsened in the country.[14] It has caused a brain drain that affected the nation, due to the large number of emigrants who are educated or skilled.[15][16] During the crisis, Venezuelans have often been asked about their desire to leave their native country,[17] and over 30 percent of those asked in a December 2015 survey said that they planned to permanently leave Venezuela.[18] The percentage nearly doubled the following September as, according to Datincorp, 57 percent of respondents wanted to leave the country.[19] By mid-2019, over four million Venezuelans had emigrated since the revolution began in 1999.[20][21][22]
The United Nations predicted that by the end of 2019, there would have been over 5 million recorded emigrants during the Venezuelan crisis, over 15% of the population.[23] A late-2018 study by the Brookings Institution suggested that emigration would reach 6 million – approximately 20% of Venezuela's 2017 population – by the end of 2019,[24] with a mid-2019 poll by Consultares 21 estimating that up to 6 million Venezuelans had fled the country by this point;[25] estimates going into 2020 suggested that the number of Venezuelan migrants and refugees was overtaking the 6 million figure,[26] at this time the same number of refugees from the Syrian Civil War, which started years before the recorded Venezuelan crisis and was considered the worst humanitarian disaster in the world at the time.[26][27] Estimates had risen to 7.1 million by October 2022, over 20 percent of the country's population.[28]
The Norwegian Refugee Council, the Brookings Institution and the Organization of American States commissioner for the Venezuelan refugee crisis, David Smolansky, have estimated that the crisis is also one of the current most underfunded refugee crisis in modern history.[29][30][31]
According to updates from R4V[note 1], approximately 7.71 million people have emigrated from Venezuela in recent years, coinciding with Nicolás Maduro's rise to power and the consolidation of Chavismo.[4] From May to August of this year, 390,000 Venezuelans have left their country, driven by despair over challenging living conditions, characterized by low wages, rampant inflation, lack of public services, and political repression. However, R4V suggests that these figures could be even higher, as many migrants without regular status are not included in the count.[4][5] The organization's calculation method is based on asylum requests and refugee registrations in each country, which might exclude those in irregular situations.[4] Despite the upcoming presidential elections, hope is scarce among Venezuelans. Many fear that through manipulations and frauds, Maduro might "get re-elected" and remain in power for another six years, despite his unpopularity. In this scenario, emigration might continue to be a constant in Venezuela's near future.[4][5]
Effects[edit]
Education[edit]
Many Venezuelan emigrants are educated professionals.[15] Iván de la Vega of the Simón Bolívar University (USB) found that 60 to 80 percent of students in Venezuela said that they want to leave the country and not return to 2015 conditions.[84] Primary and secondary school students were also affected, with media reports of children at school fainting from hunger.[85] In Venezuela's border regions, the school dropout rate is as high as 80 percent.[86][87]
Statistics[edit]
Migrant numbers[edit]
The median emigrant age is 32.[84] The percentage of Venezuelans who said that they had family abroad increased from 10 percent in 2004 to nearly 30 percent in 2014.[3] In 2014, about 10 percent said that they were presently preparing to emigrate.[3] According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, "[b]etween 2003 and 2004, the number of (Venezuelan) refugees doubled from 598 to 1,256, and between 2004 and 2009, the number of Venezuelan refugees was five-fold higher, up to 6,221. By that date, there is also a log of 1,580 Venezuelan applicants for refuge."[33]
A late-2017 survey by Consultores 21 found that over four million Venezuelans had left the country due to the Bolivarian Revolution, and 51 percent of young adults, mostly professionals said that they wanted to emigrate.[21] In 2018, it was estimated that over one million Venezuelans had plans to emigrate.[98] Emigrants primarily consist of professionals between 18 and 35.[3]
Characteristics of migrants[edit]
The characteristics of migrants are important to understand because these drive and affect vulnerabilities and migration patterns. According to an IOM survey of Venezuelan migrants in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru from 2018, respondents in Brazil were of average age 32, respondents in Colombia and Peru were of average age 30, males were 58% of the surveyed population, 5% of women surveyed in Colombia were pregnant, 3% in Brazil, and 1% in Peru, 31% percent of respondents Brazil and 39% of respondents in Colombia reported being without any regular migration status, and 41% of the respondents in Brazil were traveling alone, 37% in Colombia and 31% in Peru.[99] In a 2019 vulnerability study for migrants to Central America and the Caribbean, IOM found that 4% of respondents in the study were pregnant women, 32% of females said that they were affected by discrimination and 5% of these women were pregnant, 58% of females reported lack of healthcare access and 57% of males did, and 65% of respondents travel alone vs 35% travel in a group.[100]
Refugee life[edit]
Aid[edit]
Organizations and events have been created to assist Venezuelan emigrants. The website MeQuieroIr.com (Spanish: "I want to go") was created by a former public-affairs employee of PDVSA who moved to Canada, and quickly became popular among Venezuelan emigrants.[17][107][108] In June 2015, the first annual Migration Expo was held in Caracas; the event included support groups, study-abroad assistance, and help with the emigration process.[109] The Somos Diáspora network, consisting of a website and radio station in Lima, Peru, was launched in May 2018 to provide Venezuelan entertainment, news and migration information to the diaspora.[110]
– In April 2018, the European Union sent observers to Colombia to assist with planning and accommodating Venezuelan refugees.[206]
European Union
– In March 2018, the United Nations Refugee Agency urged regional countries to treat Venezuelan migrants as refugees under the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, and urged countries to accept Venezuelan nationals, grant them access to basic human rights, and not deport Venezuelans who enter their territories.[98][156] On 6 April 2018, the United Nations World Food Programme declared the situation of Venezuelan immigrants in Colombia a Level 2 Emergency and called for a regional response to the crisis.[207] In October 2018, following the visit of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi to the border area of Colombia and Venezuela, Grandi stated that the refugee crisis was "monumental".[208] On 6 May 2020, UN experts urged Venezuelan government to take some concrete steps towards the devastating impact on basic Human rights of the country's economic crisis. Experts also addressed the country's collapsing health system, pointing out that many hospitals are struggling to care for patients with no reliable electricity or even running water.[209]
