Venezuelans are fleeing strongman Nicolas Maduro’s rule at a rate comparable to the early years of the Syrian civil war, according to a new report from the region’s main international organization.
“The speed at which the total number of Venezuelan migrants and refugees has grown is as high as that seen in the first years of the Syrian crisis,” a new report from the Organization of American States observed.
President Trump is backing an effort to push Maduro from power in favor of a top lawmaker recognized by the United States and dozens of other countries as the legitimate interim president, under the Venezuelan constitution. U.S. lawmakers and American allies have stressed the importance of avoiding a military intervention, but the OAS report shows that the humanitarian crisis is reaching warlike proportions but has not led to the same level of international attention.
“The flow of Venezuelan migrants is similar in magnitude and speed to other episodes that led to massive migrant and refugee crises in other parts of the world which resulted from armed conflicts, such as in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and South Sudan,” the OAS report said. “The characteristics of the flow are not those typically associated with purely economic migrations.”
The exodus of refugees and “refugee-like” Venezuelans has taxed the resources of neighboring partners, especially Colombia, which has welcomed more than one million newcomers. The government in Bogota is bracing for a total of four million people to arrive by 2021.
“The total number of migrants and refugees could reach between 5.39 million and 5.75 million by the end of 2019, and between 7.5 million and 8.2 million by the end of 2020,” the OAS report estimated.
Over the first six years of the Syrian conflict, by comparison, about 6.3 million people fled a battle space involving five different militaries, an array of terrorist groups — most notably, the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate — and the regular threat of chemical weapons attacks by Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. But the displaced Venezuelans have received far less international aid than the “billions of dollars” delivered to their Syrian peers.
“Even if the United Nations drive to raise US$737.61 million in funds to provide humanitarian and other types of aid to Venezuelans scattered throughout the region were to become a reality in 2019, the total amount would still be less under US$1 billion,” the report said.
Venezuela has suffered from food shortages for years, but the worst is just around the corner, according to a prominent Republican lawmaker.
“The suffering people of Venezuela are about to experience the most dramatic shortages they have ever faced, the implications of which we cannot fully predict,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Thursday. “Venezuela is just a handful of days away from running out of basic staples, wheat and corn meal and cooking oil, again, because of complete and utter mismanagement.”
The Syrian crisis sent political shockwaves around the world, rocking European politics especially as the European Union struggled to develop a common response to the crisis. The power struggle in Venezuela so far has contributed to the rise of anti-Communist leaders in the region, but the crisis isn’t over.
“It is hard to know for sure when the Venezuelan migrant and refugee crisis will peak,” the OAS noted.
