The economic turmoil in Venezuela has led to an exodus from the country. Those who are able to do so travel to Europe. In Spain, Venezuelan asylum-seekers have come to outnumber applicants from everywhere else.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP PhotoM. Mejia
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Most of the asylum applications filed in Spain in recent years have come not from African or Middle Eastern refugees, but rather South American nationals. The number of Venezuelan asylum-seekers in particular has risen dramatically.
"For three years now, most of those seeking safety in Spain have been Venezuelan nationals," Maria Jesus Vega, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told DW. She noted that Venezuelans filed 4,200 asylum applications in 2016, 10,600 in 2017, and 12,700 so far this year. According Spain's department for asylum-seekers and refugees, OAR, the second-highest number of asylum applications were filed by Colombian nationals, followed by Syrians.
The sudden increase in asylum applications by Venezuelans "is a clear signal how much conditions have deteriorated in the South American country," said Jesus Vega.
The latest report by the European Asylum Support Office shows that only 100 Venezuelans sought asylum in European Union member states in 2014, one year after Nicolas Maduro became the Venezuelan president. By 2017, this figure had climbed to 12,020. For various historical, linguistic, cultural and family-related reasons, Spain is the number one EU destination for Venezuelans fleeing their homeland — provided they have enough money to do so.
The UNHCR estimates that a total of 2.3 million Venezuelans currently live abroad and that 1.6 million of them have left the country since 2015. However, Barcelona-based sociologist Tomas Paez Bravo, who holds Venezuelan citizenship, estimates that 3.3 million of his compatriots are actually seeking a better life abroad at present. He has accused the Venezuelan National Institute of Statistics of keeping the real figures under wraps in order to downplay the ongoing exodus.
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Slim chances of success
Spain's Commission for Refugees has reported that only 1,500 of last year's 10,600 asylum applications filed by Venezuelan nationals were processed — and that of these, only 15 were successful, explained Paez Bravo. "Spain is unable to process the vastly increased number of asylum applications and many applications are rejected — that means large numbers of Venezuelans are forced to live in Spain illegally," he said.
The UNHCR's Jesus Vega noted Eurostat data show that by April 2018, more than 17,700 asylum applications filed by Venezuelans had not yet been processed. "Spain's Interior Ministry has admitted it needs to make more resources available to process applications more quickly," she said.
Jesus Vega believes the influx of Venezuelan asylum-seekers is still manageable for Spain, particularly compared with the large numbers of Venezuelans who have fled to nearby Colombia, Peru and Brazil, but that the slow pace of Spanish bureaucracy has nonetheless forced thousands of them into a state of legal limbo. "Neither the Spanish citizenry, nor its political class seem aware of what is currently happening in Venezuela," she said, adding that Spanish officials fail to understand that Venezuelans are not just fleeing political persecution, but also the country's dire shortage of food and medicine.
The perilous flight out of Venezuela
Millions of Venezuelans have fled their country to escape President Nicolas Maduro's dictatorial regime. As refugee numbers have grown, nations such as Peru, Ecuador and Brazil are now trying to limit migration flows.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/colprensa/J. Pablo Cohen
Iconic image
Each day 30,000 to 40,000 people cross the 315-meter-long (1,000-foot-long) Simon Bolivar bridge (pictured) between Venezuela and Colombia. Since September 2015 some 20 million Venezuelans have crossed into the neighboring Colombian province of Norte de Santander, says its governor William Villamizar. At the same time, he adds, 17 million individuals have been registered as entering Venezuela.
Image: picture alliance/colprensa/J. P. Cohen
Shopping over the border
Most Venezuelans come to Colombia to stock up on basic food stuff and medicine. It is cheaper there than in their own country, where inflation has spiraled out of control and made the Bolivar, Venezuela's currency, nearly worthless. Some 3 million citizens are thought to have permanently migrated to Colombia.
Image: picture-alliance/EFE/S. Mendoza
Refugiados welcome?
Colombians initially welcomed fleeing Venezuelans with open arms, just like Germans welcomed refugees in summer 2015. But now, experts say, the mood has shifted. Many have begun demanding the government provide less financial support to refugees and instead invest more in helping ordinary Colombians. However, aid for refugees is still provided in reception centers (above).
Image: Reuters/L. Gonzales
Heading south
According to official figures, approximately 1 million Venezuelan nationals currently reside in Colombia. Given that a total of 3 million Venezuelans crossed into Colombia, about 2 million must have traveled onward. In the first half of 2018 alone, over 500,000 of them migrated to Colombia's southern neighbor Ecuador.
Image: Reuters/D. Tapia
Stopover in Ecuador
Ecuadorian authorities estimate that only 20 percent of Venezuelan nationals who arrived in the country in 2018 permanently settled there, like this family living in a makeshift camp near the capital, Quito. Most Venezuelans presumably intend to keep on traveling southward and reach either Peru, Chile or Argentina.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/D. Ochoa
Hitting the brakes
After several days when some 5,000 Venezuelans wanted to cross from Colombia into Ecuador, Quito began demanding that Venezuelan nationals show valid passports to emigrate, rather than just an ID as was previously needed. This new regulation applies to adults. For children, proof of paternity and parental passports is enough to let them cross the border.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Robayo
Chain reaction
After Ecuador Peru followed suit, announcing it would implement the same regulation in the near future. Peruvian Interior Minister Mauro Medina said that about 80 percent of Venezuelan refugees arrive with valid passports, but many Venezuelan NGOs warn that passports have now become luxury items in the crisis-stricken country, requiring large sums of cash or high-level contacts to acquire one.
Image: picture alliance/AP/D. Ochoa
Tension in the air
More than 100,000 Venezuelans have migrated to Brazil since 2016, most of them to the country's north. From there, roughly half them travel onward to Ecuador and Peru. The situation in northern Brazil is tense: The country's government has said it will redistribute Venezuelan immigrants to other regions. Critics have accused the government authorities of failing to support Brazil's border region.
Image: Reuters/N. Doce
Attacks and confrontations
Last weekend, local residents in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima attacked makeshift camps housing Venezuelan refugees. They set their dwellings on fire and drove hundreds back across the border. Media reports say Brazilian police did nothing to stop the mob violence. The attack was said to be triggered by the robbery of a Brazilian businessman — a crime allegedly committed by refugees.
