SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Venezuelans seeking refuge in Chile can request a “democratic responsibility visa” at any Chilean consulate in the world, and not just in their homeland where the visa has been available until now, Chile’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The visa can be requested as of Monday. It will allow Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-hit country to stay in Chile for one year, and can be extended for an additional 12 months, a statement posted on the ministry’s website said.

“We have instructed that all Chilean consulates in the world also begin to be able to offer visas of democratic responsibility,” Chilean Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera was quoted as saying in local press reports on Saturday.

The minister added that for Chile the “real solution” would be for “the rule of law be restored” in Venezuela. Chile is part of the 12-nation Lima Group of Western states pushing for the resignation of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Opponents accuse Maduro, a socialist, of being a dictator.

In another policy change, the interior ministry announced that Chile will immediately start requiring tourist visas for Venezuelan visitors who plan to stay in the country for short periods. Previously, Venezuelans could arrive without tourist visas and stay for 90 days.

Venezuela’s economic collapse has unleashed the biggest migratory crisis in recent South American history.

This week about 200 migrants, the vast majority Venezuelans, were stranded on the border between Peru and Chile trying to enter Chilean territory after a change of regulations in Peru slowed their movement. </s> SANTIAGO — Venezuelans seeking refuge in Chile can request a “democratic responsibility visa” at any Chilean consulate in the world, and not just in their homeland where the visa has been available until now, Chile’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The visa can be requested as of Monday. It will allow Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-hit country to stay in Chile for one year, and can be extended for an additional 12 months, a statement posted on the ministry’s website said.

“We have instructed that all Chilean consulates in the world also begin to be able to offer visas of democratic responsibility,” Chilean Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera was quoted as saying in local press reports on Saturday.

The minister added that for Chile the “real solution” would be for “the rule of law be restored” in Venezuela. Chile is part of the 12-nation Lima Group of Western states pushing for the resignation of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Opponents accuse Maduro, a socialist, of being a dictator.

Venezuela’s economic collapse has unleashed the biggest migratory crisis in recent South American history.

This week about 200 migrants, the vast majority Venezuelans, were stranded on the border between Peru and Chile trying to enter Chilean territory after a change of regulations in Peru slowed their movement. (Reporting by Natalia Ramos Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Tom Brown) </s> SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Venezuelans seeking refuge in Chile can request a "democratic responsibility visa" at any Chilean consulate in the world, and not just in their homeland where the visa has been available until now, Chile's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The visa can be requested as of Monday. It will allow Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-hit country to stay in Chile for one year, and can be extended for an additional 12 months, a statement posted on the ministry's website said.

"We have instructed that all Chilean consulates in the world also begin to be able to offer visas of democratic responsibility," Chilean Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera was quoted as saying in local press reports on Saturday.

The minister added that for Chile the "real solution" would be for "the rule of law be restored" in Venezuela. Chile is part of the 12-nation Lima Group of Western states pushing for the resignation of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. Opponents accuse Maduro, a socialist, of being a dictator.

Venezuela's economic collapse has unleashed the biggest migratory crisis in recent South American history.

This week about 200 migrants, the vast majority Venezuelans, were stranded on the border between Peru and Chile trying to enter Chilean territory after a change of regulations in Peru slowed their movement.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.

Your guide to the latest cricket World Cup stories, analysis, reports, opinions, live updates and scores on https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/series/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019.html. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook page for updates throughout the ongoing event in England and Wales. </s> TODAY VENEZUELA (Reuters) Peru has created a temporary visa that will allow thousands of Venezuelans to work and study in the country, part of a migratory policy that aims to “build bridges” and “not walls,” the Andean nation’s interior ministry said, according to Reuters.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s government issued 20 temporary visas to Venezuelan migrants in Peru this week.

Kuczysnki, a centrist, has expressed concern about shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela, mired in a deep economic crisis.

Some 6,000 Venezuelans are expected to receive the permit, which will allow them to study, work, and receive health services in Peru for a year, the interior ministry said late on Thursday.

Peru has enjoyed nearly two decades of uninterrupted economic growth and single-digit inflation, a sharp contrast to socialist-led Venezuela, where the ranks of the poor have swollen in recent years.

“We want to offer a different message on migration than what’s offered in other places. We want to build bridges that unite us and not walls to separate us,” Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio said in a statement.

The comment appeared to be a thinly veiled shot at the new US government, which is traditionally an ally of Peru.

US President Donald Trump has imposed a temporary entry ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, and insisted that Mexico will pay for his proposed wall along the US-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration.

Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker and free-trade advocate who took office last year, has previously compared Trump’s proposed border wall to the Berlin Wall, and said he would oppose it in the United Nations.

Kuczynski and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said last week that they would stand with Mexico and seek to strengthen regional trade, in the wake of rising tensions between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Trump.

Thousands of Venezuelans have left their country in recent years, as a deepening political crisis and ongoing economic dysfunction have made life there ever harder.

While the first years of this century saw Venezuela elites and educated classes depart the country, chaffing under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, since 2010 younger Venezuelans and members of the middle class have joined the ranks of the exodus.

Many Venezuelans have relocated to Colombia, and a significant number have gone to Chile, making an arduous multiday trek by bus and boat across the Amazon jungle and the mountains and rivers of the Andes.

Over the last five years, Chilean visas issued to Venezuelans have jumped from 758 to 8,381, Univision reported in September 2016.

About 5% of Venezuelan’s roughly 30 million people are thought to have left, and the outflux has undergone a “feminization” of late, seeing 67 men leave for every 100 women departing.

“I think what you see now is that there are fewer and fewer educated professionals, younger people, who are opting to stay, or even considering opting to stay,” Alejandro Velasco, a professor at New York University, told Business Insider late last year.

“The tipping point basically, I think, has been reached where opportunities outside [the country] are far easier to come by and certainly better to imagine that opportunities inside.”

Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission. </s> The democratic challenge to dictatorships and xenophobia in Latin America

During the conference entitled The democratic challenge to the autocracies of the 21st century in Latin America, organized by the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL) on Tuesday at the Senate of Uruguay, the Government of Venezuela was described as a dictatorship and it was exhorted that the democratic governments of the region, especially the Uruguayan government, not be indifferent or accomplices against today’s Latin America’s autocratic governments.

The panel, made up of Uruguayan and Venezuelan parliamentarians and regional authorities, debated the democratic clauses of the different institutional organisms in the continent in the face of the erosion of the rule of law and the autocratic governments of Latin America at present. Special emphasis was placed on the cases of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

Venezuela is a country that is beginning to be closed from outside; the region begins to close the doors, says Jorge Gandini, president of the lower house of the Congress of Uruguay during the conference in reference to the new migration rules adopted by the governments of Peru and Ecuador and the tensions with the northern border state of Roraima, in Brazil.

Gandini explains that, unlike the Government of Cuba, which closed its doors from within decades ago, Venezuela is beginning to isolate itself in the region as there is the possibility that millions of people, seeking to flee from the deep economic crisis, will cause problems to the fragile socioeconomic stability in nearby countries.

According to the United Nations Organization for Migration (IOM), around 2.3 million Venezuelans have emigrated due to the economic crisis the country is experiencing.

At least a million of them have passed through Colombian territory since the beginning of 2017, of which more than half million have traveled by land to Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina after extensive bus trips or even on foot.

Peru has become one of the main destinations for this migratory movement due to the migratory facilities that have occurred with the last governments. According to the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) only in 2018 the Peruvian government has already received 90,000 asylum applications from Venezuelans.

However, in recent months there have been outbreaks of xenophobia among some sectors of societies in certain recipient countries.

During the conference both Gandini and Uruguayan deputy Rodrigo Goñi, both from the National Party (Uruguay), expressed their concern regarding the position of the Uruguayan Government against that of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Unfortunately, we have a government that has been indifferent against Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, Goñi said, pointing out that the Uruguayan government has become equally an accomplice of governments that are responsible for deaths and violations of Human Rights.

The government of Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez has been characterized by not defining a strong position in the face of the democratic crises that Venezuela and Nicaragua are going through. The Uruguayan chancellery has repeatedly expressed that it opposes any illegal act of violence with political ends in Venezuela. However, the chancellery has not spoken out about the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating the use of excessive force by the State security forces and the use of violent means to repress the protesters, according to the announcement of the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda in February.

The political position that Uruguay has taken in the face of the political crisis in Nicaragua, which has left between 317 and 448 people killed since April according to humanitarian organizations, is somewhat different from the one it has taken against the former President Hugo Chávez’s country. The Uruguayan government has adhered to the positions of the countries of the region that condemn the government of Daniel Ortega, urging his government to stop the attacks against the demonstrators.

However, regarding the migratory aspect, Uruguay has been characterized as a friendly recipient of the Venezuelan migratory flow, despite the fact that the number of Venezuelan residents on Uruguayan soil did not exceed 13,000 at the beginning of 2018. On July 26, The International Labor Organization (ILO) stressed that the Uruguayan legislation on immigration is a model to replicate in other countries.

Diego Cabrita, representative of the civil society of help to the immigrant in Uruguay Veneguayos, indicates that the number of cases of Venezuelans with problems of paperwork has diminished since the migratory norms have become more flexible.

For PARLASUR parliamentarian for Venezuela, William Dávila, it is necessary to be forceful against Maduro's government, which cares little that migrants cause problems of instability in the countries of the region. However, it is unconstitutional to limit the circulating right in the region to Venezuelans, demanding documents that are difficult to access in Venezuela such as the passport.

Dávila indicates that the PARLASUR should urge the governments of the region to respect the treaties that gave rise to Mercosur, respecting the fact that the Identity Card is a legal document to move from one country to another in the continent.

However, the migration issue thanks to the Venezuelan exodus has not stopped becoming a political, boiling issue in the region.

After the riots in which locals burned the belongings of 1,200 Venezuelans in the border town of Pacaraima, between Venezuela and Brazil; and where 25% of the inhabitants are Venezuelans and live in tents between bus stations and abandoned houses in the area, Brazilian politicians from the state of Roraima have once again called for the closure of the federal government's borders with the support of communities driven by a wave migration that has oversaturated the health system and the services of a state with little infrastructure. Turning, for the first time in history, Venezuelan migrants into political material which can be attacked with the support of the nascent xenophobia in the region. </s> June 2, 2019 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:

“As Venezuela slides deeper into dictatorship, and as Venezuelans continue to suffer at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime, the regime has taken steps to limit the ability of foreign embassies to function in Venezuela, particularly those advocating for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela.

“Unfortunately, at the end of this month, Canadian diplomats in Venezuela will no longer be in a position to obtain diplomatic accreditation under the Maduro regime, and their visas will expire. Therefore, we are left with no choice but to temporarily suspend our operations at the Embassy of Canada to Venezuela, effective immediately.

“We are also evaluating the status of Venezuelan diplomats appointed by the Maduro regime to Canada.

“Notwithstanding this temporary suspension, Canada, together with its partners in the Lima Group and the international community, will continue to stand up for the rights of the Venezuelan people and for a full return to democracy in Venezuela.

“Canada continues to provide consular assistance to Canadians in Venezuela through the Embassy of Canada to Colombia, in Bogotá. For several months, we have advised Canadians to avoid all travel to Venezuela.

“Canadians in need of consular assistance in Venezuela should send an email to sos@international.gc.ca or contact the Embassy of Canada to Colombia, in Bogotá, at +57 (1) 657-9800. Canadians can also contact Global Affairs Canada’s 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa by calling collect +1 613 996 8885. For Travel Advice and Advisories for Venezuela, visit travel.gc.ca.” </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption More than two million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014

Eleven Latin American countries say that they have agreed to allow Venezuelans leaving their homeland to enter their countries even if their travel documents have expired.

More than 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled the country's hyperinflation and severe shortages.

But many do not have valid passports because renewing them can take years.

The move will come as a relief to those who say they were trapped in Venezuela due to their lack of papers.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly mocked those who leave, saying they "fall for propaganda only to leave and clean toilets in Miami".

The announcement was made after a two-day meeting of migration officials from Latin America in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito.

Eleven of the countries represented signed a joint declaration in which they also called on the Venezuelan government to speed up the process of issuing passports.

$5,000 passport

Venezuelans have long complained about how difficult it is to get hold of passports and other official documents such as birth and marriage certificates and ID cards.

Many have reported being asked for bribes up to $1,000 (£780) for a passport which could rise to $5,000 if the applicant had urgent reasons to leave, such as wanting to visit a sick family member abroad.

The government has blamed shortages of paper and "mafias" inside the registry service, known as Saime, for the delays.

In June, four Saime officials were arrested for extortion and a new director of the service was named in July. But with tens of thousands of Venezuelans wanting to leave, the queues remain long.

The countries which will allow Venezuelans to enter with expired papers are: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

The Latin American countries which have seen the biggest influx say they have been struggling to deal with the high numbers of Venezuelans crossing into their territory.

Last month, Ecuador started demanding Venezuelans show valid passports at the border, a measure which was later overturned by a court because it contravened a regional agreement on free travel.

Peru followed suit but children, pregnant women and children remained exempt from the requirement. Thousands of Venezuelans rushed to Peru's northern border to enter the country before the measure came into effect.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The Venezuelans are fleeing their country's political and economic crises

The Venezuelan government has denied there is a migration crisis and said "enemy countries" had inflated the number of those leaving to justify an invasion. </s> (BBC) – Eleven Latin American countries say that they have agreed to allow Venezuelans leaving their homeland to enter their countries even if their travel documents have expired.

More than 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled the country’s hyperinflation and severe shortages.

But many do not have valid passports because renewing them can take years.

The move will come as a relief to those who say they were trapped in Venezuela due to their lack of papers.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly mocked those who leave, saying they “fall for propaganda only to leave and clean toilets in Miami”.

The announcement was made after a two-day meeting of migration officials from Latin America in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito.

Eleven of the countries represented signed a joint declaration in which they also called on the Venezuelan government to speed up the process of issuing passports.

Venezuelans have long complained about how difficult it is to get hold of passports and other official documents such as birth and marriage certificates and ID cards.

Many have reported being asked for bribes up to $1,000 (£780) for a passport which could rise to $5,000 if the applicant had urgent reasons to leave, such as wanting to visit a sick family member abroad.

The government has blamed shortages of paper and “mafias” inside the registry service, known as Saime, for the delays.

In June, four Saime officials were arrested for extortion and a new director of the service was named in July. But with tens of thousands of Venezuelans wanting to leave, the queues remain long.

The countries which will allow Venezuelans to enter with expired papers are: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. </s> BRASILIA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - A Brazilian federal appeals court judge on Tuesday overturned a ruling barring Venezuelan immigrants fleeing economic and political turmoil from entering the country, the Solicitor General's office, which had made the appeal, said.

On Sunday, a federal judge in the northern state of Roraima ordered the border closed until the state could create "humanitarian" conditions to receive a massive influx of Venezuelans, who have overwhelmed state social services and caused a growing humanitarian crisis.

Appeals court judge Kassio Marques acknowledged "grave violations of the public and judicial order," but overturned the lower court's ruling. He said the closure would not help to improve humanitarian conditions for Venezuelans fleeing their country, as the federal prosecutors and public defenders offices who brought the case had argued.

The Brasilia-based judge's decision was cited in a statement by the Solicitor General's office.

The federal police said on Tuesday that it never actually closed the frontier but had begun preparations for shutting it on Monday.

"Those measures were promptly suspended this morning, in the wake of the new judicial decision ... and the normal flow of Venezuelan immigrants was re-established," the federal police said in a statement.

A state government official in Roraima said that although the federal police never closed the border, officers did momentarily stop Venezuelans entering.

"They only let pass those who had been granted asylum, residency or could prove they has passage out of the country," the official told Reuters. "There was even a little protest."

Nearly 33,000 Venezuelans had asked for asylum in Brazil as of April 30, while another 25,000 had entered the country by other means, including humanitarian visas, labor and migration visas, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva.

"In 2018, the number of asylum seekers from Venezuela is already larger than for the whole of 2017," he said.

Venezuela is in the grip of a severe economic crisis, with people going short of food, medicines and other essentials, and periodic waves of protests against the country's leftist president, Nicolas Maduro.

In appealing Sunday's ruling, the Solicitor General's office said closing the border in Roraima would likely do little to stem the flow of Venezuelans, as the border is so extensive.

The Brazilian Air Force began flying Venezuelan immigrants in Roraima to other cities of Brazil in May and has so far flown more than 800 Venezuelans out of Boa Vista, the state capital. (Additional reporting by Staphanie Nebehay in Geneva Writing by Gabriel Stargardter Editing by Frances Kerry)
Chile is extending its offer of "democratic responsibility" visas, allowing Venezuelans to live in the country for up to two years, so that they may be applied for from any Chilean embassy or consulate in the world instead of just in Venezuela. However, Chile border control now also demands visas upon entry for Venezuelans, a tightening of the previous 90-day free period. The move should aid Venezuelans trying to travel through other Latin American nations that have changing restrictions.