Venezuela exodus: Neighbours should ‘share the burden’

Latin American countries should “share the burden” posed by Venezuelan immigration where more than  1.6 million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015, secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS) has said.

Luis Almagro said on Wednesday that different countries should grant legal status to Venezuelan migrants while working to integrate them socially and economically.

He also announced the creation of a working group that will visit the borders and areas where Venezuelans are being displaced.  

“The exodus is causing significant pressure for several countries that, despite their good intentions, have limitations when attending those who come in,” said Almagro.

“They can’t do it alone, no country can do it alone. It must be a collective action with a shared responsibility approach,” he added.

However, Venezuela and Nicaragua rejected the call to the extraordinary session and in advance refused to accept any decision. 

Delegates from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and the United States also called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to accept food and medical supplies for his country’s most vulnerable people and allow international aid groups to work in the country.

But Maduro has rejected offers made by groups to deliver aid, arguing that it as part of a plan to destabilise his socialist government.

“The situation in Venezuela is not a natural disaster, but entirely man made,” said Alexis Ludwig, the deputy US representative to the OAS.

“President Maduro should unconditionally allow international food and medical assistance to reach the neediest in Venezuela.”

A Venezuelan diplomat at the meeting ignored these requests, saying that the discussion on the country’s migrant crisis is part of a US-led plot to justify an invasion.

#OAS analyzed migration crisis in #Venezuela and Secretary General @Almagro_OEA2015 announced creation of Working Group #OEAconVzla

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— OAS (@OAS_official) September 6, 2018

Help and support

On Tuesday, 11 Latin American countries also agreed on Tuesday to allow Venezuelans leaving the country to enter their countries even if their passports have expired.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay announced they will allow Venezuelans to enter with expired papers following a two-day meeting in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito.

Meanwhile, under the “Return to Homeland plan”, Venezuela’s government agreed with the UN on Wednesday to work together and provide technical support for the people that are aiming to return. 

According to local reports, around 300 Venezuelans gathered outside their country’s embassy in Peru on Tuesday and requested to go back.

Where Venezuelans are going: Colombia (roughly 1 million), Peru (400k), Ecuador (250k), Brazil (52k). These numbers are fluid. Not exact. Best guess estimates. UNHCR says between Jan-June this year 117,000 Venezuelans have requested asylum abroad.

— Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) September 5, 2018

The Venezuelans, some of whom said they had been sleeping on the streets and were taken advantage of by Peruvian employers, arrived hours after Maduro on national TV a plan to welcome back those who marched abroad.

“I sometimes feel pain for the Venezuelans who left,” said Maduro on Monday, adding that fewer than 600,000 Venezuelans left the country over the past two years and that 90 percent regret the decision.

“We will hug you again, come to Venezuela, come back to the homeland. We Venezuelans are here, with our big, big Bolivian hearts.”

According to the UN, more than 1.6 million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015 to escape severe shortages of food and medicine and inflation that the IMF estimates will reach one million percent this year. 

The UN’s migration agency has compared the exodus of citizens to the situation of refugees in the Mediterranean.

“This is very sad,” Joander Perez, a 15-year-old Venezuelan who travelled more than 4,000km with members of his family, told Al Jazeera at the border.

“We were at the best time of our lives, with friends, school, family but we have to leave to find a better life. In Venezuela, we were hungry.”