The OAS has assured that the closure of the borders by COVID-19 in Venezuela alters the routes of refugees

Some 5.4 million migrants and refugees fled Venezuela, according to data presented this Tuesday by the Organization of American States (OAS), which foresees a “deepening” of the crisis in Venezuela and points out that “The closure of borders during the COVID-19 emergency” forced Venezuelans to use “irregular roads” to leave the country, many of them dangerous.

Those who leave Venezuela are forced to use alternative routes, such as “paths” or “dangerous sea routes”, which increases “their condition of vulnerability”says a report released Tuesday by the agency.

According to the report’s data, however so far 130,000 people have returned to Venezuela, the economic reopening of Latin American countries slowed the return flow and, in fact, increased the number of citizens leaving the country.

About 500 Venezuelans cross the neighboring country, Colombia, on uneven roads every day. as the border crossings between the two countries remain closed.

However, in the seven months of the pandemic, the number of Venezuelans in Colombian territory decreased by 6.2 percent, from 1,809,872 in March to 1,715,831 in September.

In the agency’s latest reportage, the episode of November 22, when a group of 29 Venezuelans – including 16 minors – were deported by the authorities of Trinidad and Tobago, although a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court eventually allowed them to return 48 hours later.

In this sense, with the closure of the borders and the worsening of the crisis in Venezuela, it is “increasingly frequent” that Venezuelans risk their lives by fleeing “in desperate search for the sea on a smaller boat that transports them to some Caribbean island”. OAS figures reflect that there are approximately 224,000 Colombian migrants and refugees in the Caribbean.

Faced with the Venezuelan migration crisis, some countries in the region have established concrete measures for migrants and displaced persons, such as Costa Rica, which has created a special category of protection for Venezuelan migrants, or Peru, which has established “special, exceptional and temporary “to regulate the migratory situation of foreigners in their territory.

Finally, the OAS denounces that “Venezuela’s illegitimate regime continues to violate the right to identity of Venezuelan citizens by not guaranteeing the issue of new passports, as well as extensions that allow you to extend the validity of this document.

This “violation of human rights”, they say, has worsened in the context of the pandemic, “preventing many Venezuelans from being able to identify, mobilize and implement procedures to regularize their immigrant status”.

(With information from Europa Press)

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