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Desperate Venezuelan Exodus Hits 4 Million In Less Than Four Years – And Keeps Growing

The number of Venezuelan refugees like these arriving in Cucuta, Colombia, last year has now reached 4 million since 2015.
Tim Padgett
/
WLRN.org
The number of Venezuelan refugees like these arriving in Cucuta, Colombia, last year has now reached 4 million since 2015.

The desperate exodus from Venezuela hit another startling milestone on Friday. But that’s not the only disturbing news from the crisis-wracked South American country.

Last summer the U.N. issued a shocking report that 3 million Venezuelans had left their country since 2015. That was a tenth of Venezuela’s population. Now the U.N. says 4 million have left. It calls that exodus “staggering” – and it fears it could soon pass 6 million, which is the size of Syria’s refugee crisis.

Either way, the Venezuelan refugee emergency is on pace to be the worst in Latin America’s history if the country’s situation doesn’t improve. Venezuela is mired in the world’s worst economic collapse today – and its authoritarian socialist regime is showing no sign of giving up power.

Neighboring Colombia has received the biggest share of Venezuela’s refugees, but several other South American countries have absorbed the influx as well. Almost 30,000 Venezuelans applied for U.S. asylum last year – the most from any country in the world.

Meanwhile, talks in Norway between the regime and the opposition to solve Venezuela’s deep political crisis look stalled. And if you thought the country’s economic disaster couldn’t get worse: oil union workers are warning Venezuela could run out of gasoline in a month.

Copyright 2019 WLRN 91.3 FM

Tim Padgett is the Americas editor for Miami NPR affiliate WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida.