CONTEXT OVERVIEW
The Venezuelan crisis has generated the biggest exodus in the region’s recent history. According to the latest data, 4,769,498 million Venezuelans are living abroad – 3,937,561 million (82%) of which are in Latin America and the Caribbean countries; it is estimated that numbers will surpass 6.5 million by the end of 20202 . Countries in Latin American and Caribbean have made significant efforts in providing humanitarian protection assistance and to migrants and refugees from Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter Venezuela) in their territories, but the outflows are not expected to decrease.
In Brazil, an average of 500 people from Venezuela are continuing to cross the border every day, mostly into the northern state of Roraima. The National Committee for Refugees (CONARE) of the Ministry of Justice and Human Security recognized the situation in Venezuela was causing “serious and generalized human rights violations” and unanimously decided to accept asylum-seekers on a “prima facie basis”. This will permit 21,432 Venezuelans to have their applications immediately processed. Without this decision, it is estimated that the process of these cases would have taken two years to be finalized.
At the same time, in an attempt to manage the flows of migrants and refugees, the Government of Aruba decided that its border with Venezuela will remain closed from December 10, 2019, until March 10, 2020. The government of Aruba closely monitors and evaluates the situation in Venezuela.
Other countries are actively engaging in returning their nationals. Specifically, Chile is carrying out a programme through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aiming at assisting Chilean nationals and their families in vulnerable situations with air transportation and integration support. The ninth flight was carried out returning 88 Chileans to Santiago, thus bringing the number of returnees to 999.
Host Governments and the donor community continue to demonstrate considerable solidarity and cooperation towards the reception of refugees and migrants from Venezuela and the management of the crisis in the host communities. Despite the efforts of receiving countries in increasing their reception capacities, this enormous influx has put unprecedent pressure on governments and host communities. As a result, sentiments of xenophobia and negative public opinions towards migrants from Venezuela are on the rise, along with increase pressure on public services. Some governments such as Aruba, Chile, Curacao, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru, and Trinidad & Tobago, have revised or introduced entry requirements for Venezuelans in the course of 2018 and 2019. From the 16th of December, the Dominican Republic requires all Venezuelan nationals to apply for a tourist visa in order to enter in the country. Venezuelan officials are exempt along with those who have a Schengen, Canadian and British visa. This new regulation can be found in the Resolution 006-2019 signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.