Migrants cross the Táchira River, on the Venezuelan-Colombian border, last year, when the official crossing was closed due to Covid. Photograph: Schneyder Mendoza/AFP
The Guardian: ‘Latin America will never be the same’: Venezuela exodus reaches record levels
Country at a ‘tipping point’ that could affect wider region, experts warn, as ‘donor fatigue’ causes aid shortfall
The continuing exodus of millions of Venezuelans is reaching “a tipping point” as the response to the crisis remains critically underfunded.
More than 5.6 million have left the country since 2015, when it had a population of 30 million, escaping political, economic and social hardships.
It has become the largest external displacement crisis in the region’s history, and the most underfunded.
“Never in our history in Latin America have we faced such movement of people out of a country that was one of the richest in the region and a country that is not at war,” said Eduardo Stein, special representative of the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“Whatever fails in one of the largest and richest countries in the subcontinent is going to affect the rest of the region. Latin America will never be the same.”
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WNU Editor: It is staggering to believe that out of a population of 30 million, 5.6 million have left in 6 years, and instead of dropping the exodus is now reaching record levels.
