Here on VISUALPOLITIK, we’ve already made several videos about how Venezuela is going
through its toughest times.
However, we still needed to address one of the most serious consequences of the Bolivarian
revolution’s gigantic failure.
And there’s no doubt, no debate: Venezuela is adrift.
With every day that passes, life in this country becomes harder and harder.
With some of the highest violence, poverty and inflation indices in the world and with
a growing drug trafficking and organized crime industry, many, many Venezuelans can’t find
any alternative to putting some space between themselves and their homeland-- that is, leaving
behind a country that’s falling apart.
Well, in a situation like theirs, would any of you have hope?
I’d certainly try to escape.
And that’s exactly what more and more Venezuelans are doing, especially the youngest ones.
Now... some of you may be wondering, ok, Simon, but... how big is this problem really?
Well... see, according to the UN’s calculations, from 2014 to June of 2018, around 2,300,000
Venezuelans have left the country.
And these numbers won’t stop growing anytime soon.
In other words, the Bolivarian revolution has caused the greatest exodus in the history
of Latin America.
Listen up.
(THE EXODUS)
Societies are entities in constant movement.
Throughout history, migration has been continuous, whether for economic or political reasons.
To find better opportunities, to escape from a threat, or simply to escape bad living conditions,
people are continually moving from one place to another.
However, an exodus is something quite different.
The term exodus refers to the mass emigration of people who are forced to leave the place
where they live.
That is to say, it isn’t about people who dream of a better life, but people who have
to leave to survive.
In general, throughout history, the most common causes have been political, racial or religious.
Perhaps the most common type of exodus throughout history has been that of people forced to
leave their homes because another stronger group took over and expelled them violently.
For example, there’s the exodus of the Armenian people in 1915 when hundreds of thousands
of people were forced to escape from the Turkish Empire, a process that later became known
as the "Armenian genocide".
Another case would be that of the tens of thousands of Republicans who faced the threat
of reprisal, torture and condemnation of all kinds from the Francoists, and were forced
to leave Spain after the end of the Spanish Civil War.
Or what happened in the Second World War, or with the fight for independence in African
and Asian countries in the 1960s.
Well, in our times we’ve had two very clear examples:
The first was a product of the Syrian Civil War which, since its beginning in 2011, has
driven millions of people to move inside and outside of its borders.
The second case is that of Venezuela.
And everything indicates that its exodus will end up being much bigger than Syria’s.
“At this moment the Venezuelan migration must be qualified as a forced migration, because
it isn’t planned and it’s for survival.”
Beatriz Borges, executive director of the Justice and Peace Center.)
Because folks, we need to understand what’s happening.
Understand that the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who are escaping... don’t
do it for pleasure, but out of necessity.
And, unlike the examples we’ve covered, the Venezuelan exodus isn’t the result of
a war or the occupation of a foreign force, but of the hunger, fear and misery caused
by the Bolivarian revolution.
See, according to the last Living Conditions Survey, in 2018, 87% of Venezuelans live in
poverty, and more than 60% in extreme poverty.
These are sub-Saharan African numbers.
The paradox is that this humanitarian catastrophe is happening in one of the most important
oil powers in the world.
Folks, the situation is beginning to get very serious.
For example due to a lack of medicine and health equipment within the country, diseases
such as measles, tuberculosis, and malaria, diseases that had been eradicated in the country,
haven’t only re-emerged, in some cases they’ve become real epidemics.
And what’s more:
“There are more than 100,000 HIV/AIDS patients at risk due to lack of access to necessary
medication”.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
And of course, the lack of medicine has lethal consequences for the population.
But that’s not all, Venezuela is experiencing such a huge production and supply problem
that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to acquire basic food products.
For example, a can of tuna can cost more than a minimum wage salary.
Crazy!
That, folks, explains why according to data from the United Nations, while Diosdado Cabello
and the rest of the regime giants are growing fat on lobster dinners, around 1 and a half
million Venezuelans are currently suffering from malnutrition.
And then there’s the violence issue, which is also no joke.
Homicide statistics, for example, are at levels typical of a country in a civil war.
Check this out.
And then there’s of course, robberies, looting, extortion and all the other crimes that have
made this country a very dangerous place to live.
And the Bolivarian police don’t help.
Listen up.
“More than 40% of July’s crimes were committed by police officers” Venezuelan Violence
Observatory)
So, faced with this scenario we can’t be surprised that just in the last 3 years, 2
million Venezuelans have left the country by sea, air, and land.
Surely, you’ve all seen the huge rows of Venezuelans walking, step by step, towards
the border.
Because…
most of those who flee on foot sometimes take buses, cars, mules... but lately many have
begun walking to reach Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador first, and then maybe, from there,
Peru, Chile or Argentina.
And of course this is by no means an easy trip.
The journey is hard not only because of how tiring it is and because of what they leave
behind – families, friends, their homes – but in many cases, these refugees fall
victim to fraudsters, thieves, etcetera, etcetera.
Fortunately, so far, the other Latin American countries have shown great solidarity and
have allowed almost unrestricted entry to the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.
However, this could all change.
Receiving so many people at once isn’t always easy, especially if the recipients aren’t
precisely rich countries.
(A HUGE PRESSURE)
Folks, it's true.
Some Latin American countries are beginning to feel a lot of pressure.
The Venezuelan exodus is so great that in some cases they’re facing real capacity
problems.
For example, in the border state of Roraima, Brazil, the number of Venezuelans attending
medical centers has increased from 700 in 2014 to more than 50,000 in 2017.
Just in the first 3 months of 2018 the number reached over 45,000.
“Every day 700 or 800 Venezuelans go through the border and that’s creating many problems
in terms of vaccination and organization.”
Michel Temer, President of Brazil)
In Colombia the number of Venezuelans already exceeds one million people, in Peru there
are more than 400,000 and in Ecuador almost a quarter of a million.
The wave is so big that in 2018 so far, more than 4,000 Venezuelans have arrived in Ecuador
per day.
Of course, many of them go on to other countries... countries like Chile, which in the first 6
months, between January and June, received almost 150,000 Venezuelans.
All of this is causing the most affected countries to begin establishing some measures to reduce
this huge flow of people.
The Brazilian government, for example, has announced the deployment of the military at
the border and has stated that it will consider establishing quotas, that is, a maximum number
of people who can enter the country.
For their part, Ecuador and Peru have begun to demand the presentation of passports...
Why?
Well, because it isn’t an easy document to obtain in Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela...
because of the bureaucratic labyrinth and the simple fact that they lack all of the
paper needed to issue them.
Well, due to that and because many officials do business by selling them on the black market,
where a simple passport, whose official price is only 18.86 sovereign bolivars – about
20 cents – can cost between 700 and 5,500 dollars... depending on how quickly you need
them or the money the buyer has.
And for those who are lucky enough to already have a passport, when it expires they can
extend its validity for 2 more years with a stamp – because they won’t get another
passport – but that procedure, unless you go through the black market... it is quite
slow, and could take up to 3 months.
Anyway, that's the way things are.
For the first time, Latin America is facing a serious problem with its borders.
And it’s not an easy problem.
On the one hand you can’t prevent Venezuelans from coming in, it’s a humanitarian issue
and there’s still a huge margin of refugees to citizens.
But it’s evident that if things go on like this, more and more people will try to escape
the country... and that’s quite a challenge.
Here every Latin American country needs to work in a coordinated manner and receive support
from the international community.
Of course, to be fair, the effort and solidarity shown by many of the region’s countries
has been extraordinary.
It’s been an example of Latin unity.
By the way... one final note...
It isn’t only the common Venezuelan who’s leaving.
In recent years, many Venezuelans who made a fortune during the Bolivarian revolution’s
dark period, as well as the families of many high-ranking officials, have left... of course,
with a full wallet.
“Ex-Chavez ministers hid 2 billion in Andorra.”
El País)
“The opulent disembarkation in Venezuela of the Venezuelan millionaires.
A dozen businessmen and former officials, several of them arrested for corruption, have
invested tens of millions in luxury homes and hunting lands.”
El País)
These are known as the Bolichicos [BO-LEE-CHEE-COS].
We’ll try to talk about them in a future video.
But now it’s your turn, do you think that the international community should help the
Venezuelan people more?
Leave your answer in the comments as well as in the survey.
So I really hope you enjoyed this video, please hit like if you did, and don’t forget to
subscribe for brand new videos.
Don’t forget to check out our friends at the Reconsider Media Podcast - they provided
the vocals in this episode that were not mine.
Also, this channel is possible because of Patreon, and our patrons on that platform.
Please consider joining them and supporting our mission of providing independent political
coverage.
And as always, I’ll see you in the next video.