Already 1 million Venezuelans fled to neighboring Colombia

Colombia has already welcomed more than 1 million refugees from neighbouring Venezuela in 2018. This is shown by figures that the Colombian migration service has published today.

“Currently, more than 1,032 million Venezuelans live in our country, about 50 percent of those who have left their country,” says Christian Kruger, head of the Colombian migration service. According to Kruger, about 573,000 Venezuelans in Colombia have valid residence documents, while there are still 240,000 files in treatment. An estimated 217,000 people are not registered.

The Venezuelans flee from the hunger and economic crisis in their country. According to the UN, 2.3 million of the approximately 31 million inhabitants have left the country. Experts say it is the biggest refugee crisis in the history of Latin America. Besides Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, the US and Mexico are important destinations for the Venezuelan emigrants.

Venezuela is the oil-rich country in the world, but has been undergoing a severe economic crisis for several years. Due to corruption, mismanagement and the sanctions imposed by the United States, the country hardly has foreign currency to import food or medicines.