Page 4 - Preliminary Report on the Venezuelan Migrant and Refugee Crisis in the Region

The high flows of Venezuelan migrants and refugees, who,

The high flows of
according to data for 2018, amount to approximately
Venezuelan migrants and
refugees, who, according 5,000 people per day or around 200 people per hour,
to data for 2018, amount travel in conditions of high vulnerability. Many of the
to approximately 5,000
fleeing migrants and refugees suffer from malnutrition, as
people per day or around
well as diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, and
200 people per hour,
travel in conditions of high malaria, among others, which at one time had been
vulnerability. eradicated from Venezuela and the region. The

vulnerabilities of many of these Venezuelan migrants and refugees, who come in all ages, have

been addressed for the most part by national and local authorities in the receiving countries.

Colombia, for example, administered around 600,000 vaccination doses in 2018 alone,

according to official figures from the Ministry of Health. Over that same period of time more
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than 115,000 Venezuelans received emergency medical care.

Venezuelans also migrate in precarious economic circumstances. Independent reports say that
more than 40 percent—by United Nations’ estimates, at least 1.3 million Venezuelan migrants

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and refugees—suffer from nutritional problems. The phenomenon of the so-called “walkers”
(Venezuelans who decided to travel thousands of kilometers across the continent by foot to

reach another country) is a sign of the desperation to escape, as well as revealing the high

economic vulnerability that prevents them from making the journey by conventional means of
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transport that for many of them are simply unaffordable.

This migrant and refugee crisis constitutes a major challenge for the region and all OAS member
states. However, it would be remiss not to draw attention to the welcome that Venezuelans

have received from the region’s governments and societies, in a demonstration of the

prevailing Latin American fellowship. In spite of the difficulties that this episode has created for

9 Ministry of Health of Colombia. “Situación del fenómeno migratorio en Colombia,” November 2018.
10 Lederer, Edith M. “UN says an estimated 2.3 million people have fled Venezuela.” Associated Press, August
14, 2018, https://www.apnews.com/ddf44515d5a6413b854d30e01b524d9f.
11 Torrado, Santiago. “El éxodo venezolano atraviesa los Andes,” El País, August 18, 2018
https://elpais.com/internacional/2018/08/17/actualidad/1534514057_453804.html.

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