Research Paper

Country of study: Venezuela

Caracas Chronicles: https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2020/09/06/tracking-venezuelan-migrants-and-refugees/

Article: Tracking Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees

So far, what we know about Venezuela based on my previous blogs is that more than 5.3 million of Venezuelans have been forced to move out of their homeland and start new journeys in other countries. Based on the article selected for this blog in particular, Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, the author, has mentioned that “Venezuelans have become the second nationality with the largest number of asylum applications worldwide.” (Muñoz-Pogossian, 2020). Globally in the list of countries that have the greatest numbers of new asylum seekers, Venezuelans have become one of the top nationalities to do so. In addition, the migration of Venezuelans has become the second largest displacement crisis in the world after Syria’s, and not only that, but also the largest in the Americas. (Muñoz-Pogossian, 2020).

About eighty percent of Venezuelan migrants are settled in neighboring countries around the region. Within those number, around sixty to seventy percent are in an irregular migration situation, many do not have papers that would allow them to access basic service needs such as housing, medical care, hygiene (water). The situation has worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic arrival because it has put the health systems to test, along with the hosting countries of Venezuelan migrants and refugees and their capacity to guarantee them access to healthcare and a minima well-being throughout the current crisis we are living in. On the other hand, the article selected for this blog highlights a very important point about the Venezuelan crisis and it is the fact that we do not know who these migrants are, how long it took them to migrate, how much did money they have invested or paid, or even their backgrounds and their professions and their plans regarding staying or moving back to their homeland, Venezuela.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has made a recent report along with the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), providing us with more information regarding Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Using a methodology known as Displacement Tracking Matrix, or DTM, these organizations have been able to collect date on the demographics of these migrants, including their economic activities, details of their trips, the challenges that they might encounter while traveling, their health conditions, and even their access to health services. That way, they are able to determine and track the displacement and population mobility. These organizations have gather data and discovered that interestingly Venezuelan migrants and refugees are bringing important human capital to their receiving countries. As reported, thirty-five percent of the Venezuelan population in Peru has a technical degree or higher and around forty-one percent in Ecuador. In the case of Chile, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Uruguay, more than fifty percent of these migrants obtained a university degree, and some even have a postgraduate degree. (IOM and MPI, 2020). Furthermore, on one hand this diaspora can become a strength for the receiving countries around the American region, taking advantage of the talent of the Venezuelan population, however, on the other, they must play a key role in the reconstruction of post-democratic transition in Venezuela.

References:

Muñoz-Pogossian, B. (2020). Tracking Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees. Caracas Chronicles.

Echeverría-Estrada, C., and Chaves-González, D. (2020). Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Profile. migrationpolicy.org. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/venezuelans-latin-america-caribbean-regional-profile.