LIMA, Peru — The number of Venezuelans fleeing the country is accelerating at a “staggering” rate, the United Nations reported Friday, as the South American nation is caught in a political struggle and grinding humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said there are now more than 4 million Venezuelans living abroad — and that 1 million have left in the last seven months alone.

“The pace of the outflow from Venezuela has been staggering,” UNHCR said in a statement. “From some 695,000 at the end of 2015, the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela had skyrocketed to over 4 million by mid-2019.”

Neighboring Colombia is now home to 1.3 million Venezuelans, followed by Peru with 768,000, Chile with 288,000, Ecuador with 263,000, Brazil with 168,000 and Argentina with 130,000. However, almost every country in the region is hosting “a significant number of Venezuelans,” UNHCR said.

Most countries have taken unprecedented steps to help the migrants, including allowing them to enter on expired passports and providing residency and work programs. But that might be changing.

Peru, which has had some of the most welcoming policies toward Venezuelan migrants, announced Thursday that it will begin requiring them to apply for visas at Peruvian embassies in Venezuela or Colombia.

The new requirement comes as dozens of Venezuelans have been expelled from Peru after committing crimes and as President Martin Vizcarra is facing pushback from those worried about what they see as uncontrolled immigration.

Colombia has also complained that the international community isn’t doing enough to help Venezuela’s neighbors handle the influx, which is taxing the region’s health, education and social security systems.

“These alarming figures highlight the urgent need to support host communities in the receiving countries,” said Eduardo Stein, the special representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants for UNHCR and the International Organization on Migration. “Latin American and Caribbean countries are doing their part to respond to this unprecedented crisis, but they cannot be expected to continue doing it without international help.”

Venezuela has been trapped in an economic and humanitarian crisis for years amid falling oil production, hyperinflation, and widespread corruption and mismanagement. More recently, economic sanctions from Washington and elsewhere are thought to be exacerbating the crisis.

Leader Nicolas Maduro is fighting for his political survival against Juan Guaido, the head of congress whom the United States and more than 50 other countries consider Venezuela’s legitimate president. </s> 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. Kuczysnki, a centrist, has expressed concern about shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela, mired in a deep economic crisis.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Silicon Alley Insider. </s> LIMA, Peru (AP) — Nearly one hundred Venezuelan migrants in Peru are making an unexpected journey home after deciding to take up their government’s offer of a free flight back instead of continuing to eke out a living in a foreign land.

With packed suitcases in hand, the migrants boarded an all-expenses paid flight Monday to capital city Caracas with Venezuelan state-run airline Conviasa, a trip that most would be unable to afford on their own.

“My experience wasn’t pleasant,” said Aury Durand, 24, who is eight months pregnant and said she was returning with a mix of “happiness and rage,” after working long hours at a car wash and only getting one-third of the wages she was due.

“I’ll be happy to see my country, whatever state it’s in,” she said.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several of those returning said they had difficulty finding jobs and encountered hurtful xenophobia that made a recent offer by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to fly them back appealing — a sharp contrast to the plight of hundreds of thousands of compatriots now trying to leave.

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their nation’s crippling economic and humanitarian crisis since 2014, according to the United Nations. In countries like Colombia and Peru, several thousand migrants now enter the country planning to stay each day. The dramatic influx has sparked tensions and fueled xenophobia.

Still, the vast majority of those arriving say they’d prefer to start over than suffer through Venezuela’s food and medical shortages, making the group departing Peru an outlier, though still a telling example of the trials many face.

“Peru opened its doors, but it also didn’t have a plan,” said Robinson Martinez, a returning 32-year-old mechanical engineer.

Martinez said that in his first three months in Peru he made a living selling candy on the street and even managed to send as much as $15 back to Venezuela in remittances a week. But as the number of Venezuelans arriving in Peru continued to boom, the work became harder. He made fewer sales and said his rent doubled.

Then Martinez and his wife read online about a new initiative launched by Maduro called “Return to the Homeland,” encouraging young Venezuelans who have left to come back and work in Venezuela — describing the flight of the nation’s brightest as another right-wing scheme to loosen his grip on power.

“Venezuelans won’t be slaves to anyone in the world!” Maduro proclaimed.

The offer might have felt like a farce to the droves who can barely afford food amid soaring hyperinflation expected to reach 1 million percent this year, but Martinez was intrigued, willing to put his trust in the president’s offer.

Over dinner one evening with his wife, who found work at a radio station in Peru, Martinez said she suggested that, “The best thing is for you to go to Venezuela and I’ll help from here.”

On Monday morning, Martinez and his 8-year-old daughter were among those heading to the airport.

“He’s giving us the opportunity to return without paying anything,” Martinez said of Maduro. “He said that on arriving in Venezuela, he’ll give us a hand with a productive job. I trust it.”

More than 400,000 Venezuelans are now living in Peru, with the vast majority arriving this year. Peru recently enacted stiffer entry requirements, asking all Venezuelans who reach the border to show a passport. Migration officials from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil are meeting in Bogota this week to decide on a regional response.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> LIMA, Peru (AP) — Nearly one hundred Venezuelan migrants in Peru are making an unexpected journey back home after fleeing their nation's economic and humanitarian crisis.

Several dozen Venezuelans will board a flight from the Peruvian capital of Lima to the city of Caracas on Monday afternoon.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several said they had difficulty finding jobs as migrants and ultimately decided to take up the Venezuelan government's offer to provide them a free trip home.

The United Nations estimates 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2014 as their nation slides into a crisis considered worse than the Great Depression.

Tensions have risen in many of the South American cities where they are now arriving.

Nonetheless, the vast majority believe they are better off abroad. </s> LIMA, Peru (AP) — Nearly one hundred Venezuelan migrants in Peru are making an unexpected journey home after deciding to take up their government's offer of a free flight back instead of continuing to eke out a living in a foreign land.

With packed suitcases in hand, the migrants prepared Monday to board an all-expenses paid flight to capital city Caracas with Venezuelan state-run airline Conviasa, a trip that most would be unable to afford on their own.

"My experience wasn't pleasant," said Aury Durand, 24, who is eight months pregnant and said she was returning with a mix of "happiness and rage," after working long hours at a car wash and only getting one-third of the wages she was due.

"I'll be happy to see my country, whatever state it's in," she said.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several of those returning said they had difficulty finding jobs and encountered hurtful xenophobia that made a recent offer by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to fly them back appealing — a sharp contrast to the plight of hundreds of thousands of compatriots now trying to leave.

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their nation's crippling economic and humanitarian crisis since 2014, according to the United Nations. In countries like Colombia and Peru, several thousand migrants now enter the country planning to stay each day. The dramatic influx has sparked tensions and fueled xenophobia.

Still, the vast majority of those arriving say they'd prefer to start over than suffer through Venezuela's food and medical shortages, making the group departing Peru an outlier, though still a telling example of the trials many face.

"Peru opened its doors, but it also didn't have a plan," said Robinson Martinez, a returning 32-year-old mechanical engineer.

Martinez said that in his first three months in Peru he made a living selling candy on the street and even managed to send as much as $15 back to Venezuela in remittances a week. But as the number of Venezuelans arriving in Peru continued to boom, the work became harder. He made fewer sales and said his rent doubled.

Then Martinez and his wife read online about a new initiative launched by Maduro called "Return to the Homeland," encouraging young Venezuelans who have left to come back and work in Venezuela — chopping up the flight of the nation's brightest as another right-wing scheme to loosen his grip on power.

"Venezuelans won't be slaves to anyone in the world!" Maduro proclaimed.

The offer might have felt like a farce to the droves who can barely afford food amid soaring hyperinflation expected to reach 1 million percent this year, but Martinez was intrigued, willing to put his trust in the president's offer.

Over dinner one evening with his wife, who found work at a radio station in Peru, Martinez said she suggested that, "The best thing is for you to go to Venezuela and I'll help from here."

On Monday morning, Martinez and his 8-year-old daughter were among those heading to the airport.

"He's giving us the opportunity to return without paying anything," Martinez said of Maduro. "He said that on arriving in Venezuela, he'll give us a hand with a productive job. I trust it."

More than 400,000 Venezuelans are now living in Peru, with the vast majority arriving this year. Peru recently enacted stiffer entry requirements, asking all Venezuelans who reach the border to show a passport. Migration officials from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil are meeting in Bogota this week to decide on a regional response.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Nearly one hundred Venezuelan migrants in Peru are making an unexpected journey home after deciding to take up their government’s offer of a free flight back instead of continuing to eke out a living in a foreign land.

With packed suitcases in hand, the migrants prepared Monday to board an all-expenses paid flight to capital city Caracas with Venezuelan state-run airline Conviasa, a trip that most would be unable to afford on their own.

“My experience wasn’t pleasant,” said Aury Durand, 24, who is eight months pregnant and said she was returning with a mix of “happiness and rage,” after working long hours at a car wash and only getting one-third of the wages she was due.

“I’ll be happy to see my country, whatever state it’s in,” she said.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several of those returning said they had difficulty finding jobs and encountered hurtful xenophobia that made a recent offer by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to fly them back appealing — a sharp contrast to the plight of hundreds of thousands of compatriots now trying to leave.

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their nation’s crippling economic and humanitarian crisis since 2014, according to the United Nations. In countries like Colombia and Peru, several thousand migrants now enter the country planning to stay each day. The dramatic influx has sparked tensions and fueled xenophobia.

Still, the vast majority of those arriving say they’d prefer to start over than suffer through Venezuela’s food and medical shortages, making the group departing Peru an outlier, though still a telling example of the trials many face.

“Peru opened its doors, but it also didn’t have a plan,” said Robinson Martinez, a returning 32-year-old mechanical engineer.

Martinez said that in his first three months in Peru he made a living selling candy on the street and even managed to send as much as $15 back to Venezuela in remittances a week. But as the number of Venezuelans arriving in Peru continued to boom, the work became harder. He made fewer sales and said his rent doubled.

Then Martinez and his wife read online about a new initiative launched by Maduro called “Return to the Homeland,” encouraging young Venezuelans who have left to come back and work in Venezuela — chopping up the flight of the nation’s brightest as another right-wing scheme to loosen his grip on power.

“Venezuelans won’t be slaves to anyone in the world!” Maduro proclaimed.

The offer might have felt like a farce to the droves who can barely afford food amid soaring hyperinflation expected to reach 1 million percent this year, but Martinez was intrigued, willing to put his trust in the president’s offer.

Over dinner one evening with his wife, who found work at a radio station in Peru, Martinez said she suggested that, “The best thing is for you to go to Venezuela and I’ll help from here.”

On Monday morning, Martinez and his 8-year-old daughter were among those heading to the airport.

“He’s giving us the opportunity to return without paying anything,” Martinez said of Maduro. “He said that on arriving in Venezuela, he’ll give us a hand with a productive job. I trust it.”

More than 400,000 Venezuelans are now living in Peru, with the vast majority arriving this year. Peru recently enacted stiffer entry requirements, asking all Venezuelans who reach the border to show a passport. Migration officials from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil are meeting in Bogota this week to decide on a regional response. </s> Nearly one hundred Venezuelan migrants in Peru are making an unexpected journey home after deciding to take up their government's offer of a free flight back instead of continuing to eke out a living in a foreign land.

With packed suitcases in hand, the migrants prepared Monday to board an all-expenses paid flight to capital city Caracas with Venezuelan state-run airline Conviasa, a trip that most would be unable to afford on their own.

"My experience wasn't pleasant," said Aury Durand, 24, who is eight months pregnant and said she was returning with a mix of "happiness and rage," after working long hours at a car wash and only getting one-third of the wages she was due.

"I'll be happy to see my country, whatever state it's in," she said.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several of those returning said they had difficulty finding jobs and encountered hurtful xenophobia that made a recent offer by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to fly them back appealing — a sharp contrast to the plight of hundreds of thousands of compatriots now trying to leave.

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their nation's crippling economic and humanitarian crisis since 2014, according to the United Nations. In countries like Colombia and Peru, several thousand migrants now enter the country planning to stay each day. The dramatic influx has sparked tensions and fueled xenophobia.

Still, the vast majority of those arriving say they'd prefer to start over than suffer through Venezuela's food and medical shortages, making the group departing Peru an outlier, though still a telling example of the trials many face.

"Peru opened its doors, but it also didn't have a plan," said Robinson Martinez, a returning 32-year-old mechanical engineer.

Martinez said that in his first three months in Peru he made a living selling candy on the street and even managed to send as much as $15 back to Venezuela in remittances a week. But as the number of Venezuelans arriving in Peru continued to boom, the work became harder. He made fewer sales and said his rent doubled.

Then Martinez and his wife read online about a new initiative launched by Maduro called "Return to the Homeland," encouraging young Venezuelans who have left to come back and work in Venezuela — chopping up the flight of the nation's brightest as another right-wing scheme to loosen his grip on power.

"Venezuelans won't be slaves to anyone in the world!" Maduro proclaimed.

The offer might have felt like a farce to the droves who can barely afford food amid soaring hyperinflation expected to reach 1 million percent this year, but Martinez was intrigued, willing to put his trust in the president's offer.

Over dinner one evening with his wife, who found work at a radio station in Peru, Martinez said she suggested that, "The best thing is for you to go to Venezuela and I'll help from here."

On Monday morning, Martinez and his 8-year-old daughter were among those heading to the airport.

"He's giving us the opportunity to return without paying anything," Martinez said of Maduro. "He said that on arriving in Venezuela, he'll give us a hand with a productive job. I trust it."

More than 400,000 Venezuelans are now living in Peru, with the vast majority arriving this year. Peru recently enacted stiffer entry requirements, asking all Venezuelans who reach the border to show a passport. Migration officials from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil are meeting in Bogota this week to decide on a regional response. </s> Lima: Peru has declared a 60-day health emergency in two provinces on its northern border, citing "imminent danger" to health and sanitation, as a regional crisis sparked by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse escalated on Tuesday.

The decree, published in the government's official gazette, did not give more details on the risks, but health authorities have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from migrants.

Meanwhile, Brazil was sending armed forces to keep order near the Venezuelan border area, in the state of Roraima.

The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a "crisis moment" comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week. </s> LIMA, (Reuters) – Brazil said it was sending armed forces to keep order near the Venezuelan border area, while Peru declared a health emergency, as a regional crisis sparked by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse escalated yesterday.

In Brazil, where residents rioted and attacked Venezuelan immigrants in a border town earlier this month, President Michel Temer signed a decree to deploy the armed forces to the border state of Roraima. He said the move was aimed at keeping order and ensuring the safety of immigrants.

Peru, meanwhile, declared a 60-day health emergency in two provinces on its northern border, citing “imminent danger” to health and sanitation. The decree, published in the government’s official gazette, did not give more details on the risks, but health authorities have previously expressed concerns about the spread of diseases such as measles and malaria from migrants.

The exodus of Venezuelans to other South American countries is building toward a “crisis moment” comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said this week.

Temer blamed the socialist Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro for the migration crisis.

“The problem of Venezuela is no longer one of internal politics. It is a threat to the harmony of the whole continent,” Temer said in a televised address.

Top immigration officials from Peru, Colombia and Brazil met in Colombian capital Bogota for a summit to discuss how to cope with the influx.

There are close to 1 million Venezuelans now living in Colombia and more than 400,000 in Peru, the countries said in a joint statement after the meeting on Tuesday. Just 178,000 of those in Peru have legal permission to stay or are being processed.

In an attempt to track arrivals and distribute aid, Colombia and Peru said they would share information about migrants in a database.

Maduro has warned migrants they face difficult conditions abroad and invited them to return home. On Tuesday, Venezuela said it had repatriated 89 citizens who had migrated to Peru but sought to return after suffering “cruel treatment.”

“They listened to the siren call from abroad … and all they found in Lima was racism, disdain, and persecution,” Maduro told a news conference.

He said Venezuelans should stop leaving the country to clean toilets and return to the “country of opportunity.”

Oscar Perez, an activist who works with Venezuelan migrants in Peru, said the repatriation was a publicity stunt by the Venezuelan government.

An official at Peru’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the repatriation, saying the country was focused on regional solutions to address the situation.

This month, Peru and Ecuador began requiring passports instead of national ID cards from Venezuelan migrants. Peru has also tightened deadlines for Venezuelans to sign up for a temporary residency card that lets them work in the country legally.

On Saturday, the first day Peru imposed its passport rule, the number of Venezuelan migrants entering the country fell by more than half to 1,630, according to Peru’s immigration agency. But hundreds more without passports entered the country by seeking asylum.

Foreign ministers from Ecuador and Colombia, and possibly Peru and Brazil, will meet to discuss Venezuelan migration in Ecuador next week, said Christian Kruger, the head of Colombia’s migration agency.
The Chamber of Commerce of Lima warns that just under a million Peruvians are at risk of returning to poverty.