Deteriorating Venezuela Results in Migration Crisis

More than seven million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015 amid an ongoing economic and political crisis, according to new UN data. More than half of them face challenges accessing food, housing, and stable employment.  But despite the difficulties facing them abroad, the flow of Venezuelans escaping turmoil in their homeland has not let up.

Aid agencies warn that these migrants risk being forgotten amid other crises.  "There's no question both that it is a major protracted crisis that is shaking the region [of Latin America]," David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, told the BBC. "But it is also clear that the competing priorities for global attention - Ukraine, famine in East Africa, trauma in Afghanistan - are draining attention in a way that is quite dangerous."  Venezuelans' reasons for leaving are manifold - ranging from lack of health care and education, which have collapsed in many parts of Venezuela, to chronic unemployment - many face the same difficulties once they arrive in their new countries.

More than 80% of those who have left Venezuela are living in Latin America and the Caribbean, in countries which often already struggle to provide health and education to their own nationals.  Venezuela's population has fallen from 30M in 2015 to an estimated 28M now based on latest UN figures.

"Many of the governments in Latin America are trying to do the right thing in managing the movement of Venezuelans, but it's a big challenge," Miliband said on a visit to Colombia, which is hosting 2.48m Venezuelans.  "It's dangerous to presume that this burden can just be borne indefinitely," he warned.

Other aid agencies have also been sounding the alarm. The UN's Special Representative for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, Eduardo Stein, has said that half of all Venezuelan refugees and migrants cannot afford three meals a day and lack access to safe and dignified housing. 

While most Venezuelans have headed to Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, a growing number are embarking on an even more dangerous trek: north across the jungle expanse known as the Darién Gap to Panama and beyond.