Faced with food and medicine shortages, a government crackdown, political persecution, crime and hyperinflation, Venezuelans are fleeing the ongoing political, humanitarian and economic crisis in their country. It is believed that approximately three million people have left Venezuela since 2014, taking refuge in their Andean neighbours and Brazil. On average, 1 000 Venezuelans leave daily on foot, walking about 16 hours a day, for 13 days. They have been surnamed “the Walkers”. Most are fleeing to Colombia, 35 000 people cross the border every day to buy food and medicine, and, on average, 3 000 stay and do not return back. According to the UNHCR report of 12/02/2019, more than a million Venezuelans have settled in Colombia and 650 000 in Peru. Peruvian authorities are become increasingly overwhelmed and have stopped giving work permits to asylum seekers. In Brazil, over 650 Venezuelans cross the border daily, and usually arrive in Roraima, a state in Northern Brazil. There, the UNHCR has set up 13 refugee centers, which house more than 5 500 Venezuelans. This is the first time the UNHCR has launched this type of refugee protection plan in Latin America.
Currently, the situation regarding access to humanitarian aid in Venezuela is revolving around a halted US transport plane carrying food and medicine. It has been stopped in Colombia due to uncertainty over how and where the supplies will be distributed. Juan Guaidó, the leader of legislature who has declared himself president, has said that the aid will enter Venezuela on the 23rd of February 2019. How this will happen is yet to be determined. On the other hand, President Maduro is denying any crisis.
The UNHCR report of 05/02/2019 and the Thomson Reteurs Foundation, have both urged the increasing vulnerability of LGBT+ community’s rights in the current political and economic crisis. Their access to food has become limited as the government’s family food bag scheme excludes same-sex couples and transgender people do not have the required documentation to purchase food at the installed biometric reading machines in food stores (used to measure individual food purchases). Additionally, organizations supporting gay and transgender people have been left with little or no funding, increasing their insecurity in the country. Transgender women have been reported to be particularly at risk due to a spike in Venezuelan human trafficking.
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