By: Staff Writer
October 5, 2021
A recent Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) migration study articulated what many in the Western hemisphere already felt in that the Venezuelan migrant crisis is larger and more of a burden to receiving countries than is being reported by the international media.
The IDB in its “Migration Flows in Latin America and the Caribbean: Statistics on Permits for Migrants,” report, detailed that by far Venezuelans are the most displaced group of people in the Caribbean and Central American region and by extension the entire Western hemisphere more so than Haitians.
In the last several years, however, the deterioration of economic conditions in Venezuela created by the political instability of the Nicholas Maduro regime has caused millions of people to leave the country. The crisis is second only to the massive Syrian refugee crisis brought about by the war in that country.
The report said, “The crisis in Venezuela is the overriding factor in LAC migration over the past five years. In this period, more than 1.75m permits have been issued in LAC countries to Venezuelans as more than 3.8 million were estimated to have left their country in that period. These migrants have dramatically affected not just the migration statistics of their destination countries, but also their migration systems and migration policy frameworks as new residence permit types and procedures were created to integrate these large numbers of migrants into the formal economies and societies of the region.”
Colombia has the biggest problem out of the all of the South American and Central American countries in dealing with the Venezuelan exodus as it is estimated that over 900k Venezuelans are within Colombia without proper documentation/residence permits, far exceeding that of Chile and Peru.
The report added: “The five years from 2015 to 2019 have seen a continuing reorientation of migrant destinations in LAC – even excluding the large effects of Venezuelan migrants. Colombia and Peru have seen their shares of intra-regional migrants increase significantly over the period, by ten percentage points each, as the share going to Argentina and Mexico fell by 13 percentage points and four percentage points, respectively.
“Finally, among the large numbers of Venezuelan migrants in recent years are many without a formal status in their countries of destination. Despite the solidarity shown by countries of the region in receiving these migrants, there are still many who lack regular permits. A comparison of the numbers of permits granted to Venezuelans in the database with estimates from the R4V platform at the end of 2019 show a gap of over 1.1m people, or 31 percent of displaced Venezuelans, without documentation to enable them to work in the formal sector, and imposing obstacles to access to fundamental social services. While an important part of this gap will be reduced by the regularization announced by Colombia in late 2020, this is still an issue in several countries.”
The ability of governments to respond to the large flows is a significant issue that has plagued Trinidad and Tobago with even their smaller than average percentage share of Venezuelan migrants. “The economic and political situation in Venezuela, the prolonged effect of the earthquake in Haiti, and hurricanes in Central America all prompt people to move abroad seeking work and opportunities, and this presents challenges for origin, transit, and destination countries. But it is also important to pick up on the more subtle changes in trends that can only be observed by careful analysis of regional data, so that policies and programs can be tailored to maximize the benefits of migration, both for the migrants themselves and for the societies that receive them.”
The report added about emigration overall from Latin American and Caribbean countries to Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development countries outside of the region has “increased significantly.” It said, “Total emigration to extra regional OECD countries was 45 percent higher in 2018 (the latest year for which data are available) than in 2015. Principal destinations include the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
The growth is driven not only by Venezuelans. Emigration from the from the four Southern Cone countries of Mercosur, along with Colombia and Peru in the Andean region, and Honduras and Nicaragua in Central America, all increased more than the regional average, collectively increasing 55 percent over the period. Only Panamá and three countries of the Caribbean show declining emigration beyond the region. This growth of the regional diaspora in these countries increases the base for future knowledge transfer and increasing remittances.
“Most of the findings in this new database are not surprising. The most notable group receiving permits in many countries is Venezuelans, to which over 2.1m permits have been issued over the five years. This figure is far short of the estimated 3.9m that were present in the region at the end of 2019 according to the R4V platform, highlighting the limitations of these administrative data in tracking migrants who do not, or have not yet, obtained permits. There is also clear evidence of large numbers of Haitians granted permits in Chile and Brazil, and of Nicaraguans in Costa Rica.”