The OAS has reported almost five and a half million Venezuelan migrants: despite the pandemic, 500 people a day pass through Colombia through irregular passages

The Organization of American States (OAS) reported this on Tuesday the current balance of Venezuelan migrants and refugees is 5.4 million.

The regional bloc detailed in its latest report on the migratory crisis situation that Every day 500 people enter Colombia through irregular passages: “The closure of the borders during the emergency due to Covid-19 and the worsening of the crisis in Venezuela have led Venezuelans to crossing uneven roads (paths) or crossing dangerous sea routes to escape the country, thus increasing their condition of vulnerability ”.

“By 12 November, approximately 5,345 Venezuelans would have entered the neighboring country via unauthorized passage. Although it is not possible to make an exact calculation of people entering through irregular routes, “the report says.

For its part, in accordance with the provisions of the Cartagena Declaration, the OAS indicated that 46,000 Venezuelans are recognized as refugees in Brazilwhile 224 are in the Caribbean.

“Since June 2019, Brazil has granted refugee status to Venezuelans on the basis of the Cartagena Declaration, which extends the concept of refugee to ‘people who have fled their countries because their life, security or freedom have been threatened by violence . generalized foreign aggression, massive violation of human rights or alteration of public order, “adds the report.

Nowadays, Brazil is currently the fifth country to welcome Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 262,475 “and the first in the number of Venezuelans recognized as refugees”.

To date, it is estimated that 130,000 Venezuelans have returned to the country. Although many of them have returned due to the current pandemic situation, the economic reopening in countries such as Colombia, Peru and Ecuador “has reduced the return and reactivated the outflow”.

According to data from Migración Colombia, in March of this year the number of Venezuelans in Colombia decreased for the first time in five years. Over the past seven months of pandemic emergency, the figure fell 6.2%, from 1,809,872 in March to 1,715,831 in September.

However, with the economic reopening “the requests for repatriation have decreased considerably and they are no longer, for the most part, an extremely vulnerable population”.

Meanwhile, around 8,000 Venezuelans are estimated to have returned from Brazil, bringing the number of returnees to around 130,000.

The OAS has noticed this “With the closure of the borders and the worsening of the crisis in Venezuela, it becomes more and more frequent for Venezuelans to risk their lives desperately by fleeing by sea on a smaller boat that takes them to some Caribbean island”.

In this sense, he recalled that a few days ago “a group of 29 Venezuelans, including 16 minors, was deported by the authorities of Trinidad and Tobago on 22 November”. “After a ruling by that country’s Supreme Court, 48 hours later they were able to return to the Caribbean country.”

The agency indicated that on 28 November the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro “coordinated with the government of Trinidad and Tobago the deportation of 160 Venezuelans from this country”. “This Office warns of the risk these people run when they are repatriated to Venezuela under a regime considered illegitimate and accused of committing crimes against humanity, as well as generating the largest and most complex humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere.”

In this regard, the OAS warned that the Chavista regime “continues to violate the right to identity of Venezuelan citizens by not guaranteeing the issue of new passports, as well as the extensions that allow the validity of this document to be extended”. “The violation of this human right 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.”

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