Venezuela's 'staggering' exodus reaches 4 million, UN refugee agency says.

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Social and political crisis drives tide of migrants
Colombia and Peru host half of fleeing Venezuelans.

Venezuelan migrants walk along a trail into Brazil, at the border city of Pacaraima, Brazil, on 11 April 2019. Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters
▼ More than 4 million Venezuelans have now fled economic and humanitarian chaos in what the UN’s refugee agency called a “staggering” exodus that has swelled by 1 million people since last November alone.
The number of Venezuelan migrants and refugees stood at about 695,000 at the end of 2015, the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announcedon Friday.
Three and a half years later – with Venezuelaimmersed in a seemingly intractable social and political crisis – that number has “skyrocketed” to more than 4 million, the groups said.
About half of that total have sought shelter in two South American countries – Colombia and Peru – which host about 1.3 million and 768,000 respectively. Many others have made for Chile (288,000), Ecuador (263,000), Brazil (168,000) and Argentina (130,000).
The humanitarian groups said “significant” numbers were also heading to the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico. Venezuelan activists and officials in Mexico estimate the exile community therehas grown to about 40,000 in recent years.
A growing number are also heading to the United States, with nearly  30,000 Venezuelansapplying for asylum there last year, according to  the Los Angeles Times. That meant Venezuela had overtaken China to become the number one country of origin for those claiming asylum on arrival or shortly after, the newspaper said.
Eduardo Stein, the special representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants for UNHCR and the IOM, said the “alarming” rise in their numbers underlined an urgent need to support those countries grappling with Venezuela’s historic exodus.
“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,” Stein said. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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