LIMA, Peru (AP) — Nearly one hundred Venezuelan migrants in Peru are making an unexpected journey back home after fleeing their nation's economic and humanitarian crisis.

Several dozen Venezuelans will board a flight from the Peruvian capital of Lima to the city of Caracas on Monday afternoon.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several said they had difficulty finding jobs as migrants and ultimately decided to take up the Venezuelan government's offer to provide them a free trip home.

The United Nations estimates 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2014 as their nation slides into a crisis considered worse than the Great Depression.

Tensions have risen in many of the South American cities where they are now arriving.

Nonetheless, the vast majority believe they are better off abroad. </s> Four million Venezuelans have fled country to escape economic and humanitarian crisis, UN says </s> By The Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Immigration authorities in Colombia and Peru are vowing to build a joint database to share information on the rapidly rising number of Venezuelans fleeing their nation’s crippling economic and humanitarian crisis.

Officials announced the plan Tuesday following a two-day regional meeting aimed at developing a unified response to the exodus.

The United Nations estimates 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2014, the majority of them going to Colombia or Peru.

Over 1 million Venezuelans have arrived in Colombia in less than two years, while officials in Peru say there are more than 400,000 living in the nation.

Colombia immigration director Christian Kruger said the database will allow nations to share information on topics like immigration status, health care and security. He hopes other nations including Ecuador will join.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> Venezuelan migrants wait outside their country's embassy for a bus that will transport them to the airport, in Lima, Peru, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. The Venezuelans are being flown to Caracas on a flight financed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro. less

Venezuelan migrants wait outside their country's embassy for a bus that will transport them to the airport, in Lima, Peru, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. The Venezuelans are being flown to Caracas on a flight financed ... more

Venezuelan migrants wait outside their country’s embassy for a bus that will transport them to the airport, in Lima, Peru, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. The Venezuelans are being flown to Caracas on a flight financed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro. less

Venezuelan migrants wait outside their country’s embassy for a bus that will transport them to the airport, in Lima, Peru, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. The Venezuelans are being flown to Caracas on a flight ... more

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Nearly one hundred Venezuelan migrants in Peru are making an unexpected journey back home after fleeing their nation's economic and humanitarian crisis.

Several dozen Venezuelans will board a flight from the Peruvian capital of Lima to the city of Caracas on Monday afternoon.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several said they had difficulty finding jobs as migrants and ultimately decided to take up the Venezuelan government's offer to provide them a free trip home.

The United Nations estimates 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2014 as their nation slides into a crisis considered worse than the Great Depression.

Tensions have risen in many of the South American cities where they are now arriving.

Nonetheless, the vast majority believe they are better off abroad. </s> An estimated 3.3 million people have fled the crisis in Venezuela since the start of 2016, including one million who have left the country since November, the United Nations said Friday.

"The pace of the outflow from Venezuela has been staggering," the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a joint statement.

Economically-devastated Venezuela is suffering from shortages of food, medicine and other essentials amid a power struggle between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognised as interim president by more than 50 countries including the United States.

American actress and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie will travel this weekend to a Colombian region on the Venezuela border "to assess the humanitarian response to exodus," the agency said.

Colombia is hosting about 1.3 million people displaced from Venezuela, the most of any country, followed by Peru, Chile and Ecuador.

The joint UNHCR-IOM envoy for the crisis, Guatemala's former vice president Eduardo Stein, said there is "an urgent need to support host communities" in the countries receiving displaced Venezuelans. </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many Venezuelans have fled the crisis-hit country to the island of Curaçao (file photo)

Thirty-two Venezuelan migrants are missing after the boat they were travelling on sank on its way to the island of Curaçao, a politician said.

The group left a village in the north-western Falcón state on a speedboat on Friday. Relatives said they had not heard from the group since.

It was the third Venezuelan migrant boat to capsize in recent weeks.

Some four million people have fled Venezuela since 2015, according to the United Nations.

A severe years-long economic crisis has resulted in high unemployment and shortages of food and medicine, and hundreds of thousands of people are said to be in need of humanitarian aid in the oil-rich country.

"No-one has been in touch with their families, which makes us fear the worst," said opposition politician Luis Stefanelli, who accused the government of "criminal negligence" for not deploying teams to search for the missing.

Venezuelan authorities have not yet commented.

The Dutch island of Curaçao is about 40 miles (64km) off the Venezuelan coast. Mr Stefanelli said each person had paid $400 (£313) for the crossing in a country where the monthly minimum wage is around $6.70.

Two other boats carrying migrants sank on separate journeys to Trinidad and Tobago in April and May, leaving more than 50 missing in total.

Last week, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the exodus from the country meant that Venezuelans were now "one of the single largest population groups displaced from their country".

Latin American countries host the vast majority of Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Colombia has the most at 1.3 million, followed by Peru with 768,000, according to UN figures.

But countries in Central America and the Caribbean also host significant numbers of Venezuelans.

The government of President Nicolás Maduro says the shortages are a result of a US-led "economic war". The opposition argues that they are the result of mismanagement and corruption by socialist governments.

The crisis deepened in January after Juan Guaidó, the head of the National Assembly, declared himself interim president, arguing that Mr Maduro's re-election last year had been "illegitimate".

He has since been recognised by more than 50 countries, including the US and most of Latin America. But Mr Maduro retains the loyalty of most of the military and important allies such as China and Russia.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption What are the real reasons behind Venezuela’s blackouts?

In April, Mr Guaidó led a failed attempt to spark a military rebellion against Mr Maduro, who described the effort as part of a US-orchestrated coup. Since then, close allies of Mr Guaidó have been arrested. While his parliamentary immunity has been lifted, he has so far not been jailed. </s> Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday sought to ratchet up international pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, chastising the United Nations Security Council for being slow to act against that government as a humanitarian crisis unfolds on Maduro’s watch.

Pence said that America is preparing a new resolution recognizing the legitimacy of Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela, and he urged the U.N. Security Council to pass it.





“Up to this point, while other international bodies have acted, the United Nations and this security council have refused to act,” Pence said, seated in the Security Council chamber. “But now that nations across this hemisphere have spoken, the time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim president Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body.”

Pence also urged the U.N. to revoke the credential of Venezuela’s representative to the United Nations.

“With all due respect, Mr. Ambassador, you shouldn’t be here,” Pence said, as Venezuela’s representative seated at the Security Council table could be seen raising his eyebrows and vigorously shaking his head. “You should return to Venezuela. Tell Nicolás Maduro his time is up. It’s time for him to go.”

Those remarks come as U.S. officials worry about what they see as growing Chinese and Russian involvement in Venezuela. China and Russia—permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—along with Cuba continue to support Maduro, who has maintained power despite mounting sanctions and international condemnation, amid an economic collapse and humanitarian crisis in his country. China and Russia have stymied previous American efforts to rebuke Maduro at the U.N. and could do so again.

“Soon at President Trump’s direction the United States will announce additional action to hold Cuba accountable for its malign influence in Venezuela,” Pence said, as he also blasted Russian and Chinese efforts to “obstruct” at the Security Council.





Maduro’s government has been accused of using the prospects of food and even medical care as political instruments, turning basic necessities into bargaining chips for votes. More than three million Venezuelans have fled the country in the past several years.





The White House, meanwhile, recognized Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela in January, and more than 50 other countries have followed suit. The United States has also applied sanctions on more than 150 officials and organizations affiliated with Maduro, as well as sanctioning the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and vessels owned or operated by that company. On Wednesday, Pence announced an additional $60 million in humanitarian aid.

The Trump administration has not ruled out military action in the region, even as Pence on Wednesday reiterated a commitment to diplomatic and economic pressure first.

“Nations across the world have spoken,” he said. “It’s time for the United Nations to speak.”

Pence’s comments come as some activists, including the organization Human Rights Watch, call for the U.N. Security Council to take emergency measures to combat the crisis in Venezuela. The Organization of American States on Tuesday acknowledged Guaidó’s appointed ambassador to that body.

But efforts to ramp up U.N. involvement in Venezuela may meet continued resistance on the Security Council. In February, Russia and China opposed a U.S. resolution at the U.N. calling for unimpeded access to humanitarian aid and new elections in Venezuela. Pence urged the Security Council to rally against Maduro this time around as he outlined a new resolution recognizing Guaidó’s legitimacy.

“Today we urge every member of the Security Council, all United Nations member states, to support this resolution, to stand with the Venezuelan people as they rise up to restore … democracy and libertad to their nation,” he said.

Pence has been an especially visible champion of the administration’s Venezuela policy, frequently signaling that combating the crisis there remains a priority for the United States even as Maduro holds on. He traveled to Colombia to meet with Guaidó in February, where he reiterated the administration’s commitment to a diplomatic solution despite aggressive tweets from Trump.

“I made it clear to President Guaidó that we’re going to continue to call on allies to join with us,” Pence said. “We’re going to continue to isolate Maduro economically and diplomatically until democracy is restored.”

More recently, he has met with Guaidó’s wife. He has also stayed connected with members of the Venezuelan exile community in the United States, attending a roundtable in Miami and last week addressing members of the Venezuelan community in Houston. </s> LIMA, Peru — The number of Venezuelans fleeing the country is accelerating at a “staggering” rate, the United Nations reported Friday, as the South American nation is caught in a political struggle and grinding humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said there are now more than 4 million Venezuelans living abroad — and that 1 million have left in the last seven months alone.

“The pace of the outflow from Venezuela has been staggering,” UNHCR said in a statement. “From some 695,000 at the end of 2015, the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela had skyrocketed to over 4 million by mid-2019.”

Neighboring Colombia is now home to 1.3 million Venezuelans, followed by Peru with 768,000, Chile with 288,000, Ecuador with 263,000, Brazil with 168,000 and Argentina with 130,000. However, almost every country in the region is hosting “a significant number of Venezuelans,” UNHCR said.

Most countries have taken unprecedented steps to help the migrants, including allowing them to enter on expired passports and providing residency and work programs. But that might be changing.

Peru, which has had some of the most welcoming policies toward Venezuelan migrants, announced Thursday that it will begin requiring them to apply for visas at Peruvian embassies in Venezuela or Colombia.

The new requirement comes as dozens of Venezuelans have been expelled from Peru after committing crimes and as President Martin Vizcarra is facing pushback from those worried about what they see as uncontrolled immigration.

Colombia has also complained that the international community isn’t doing enough to help Venezuela’s neighbors handle the influx, which is taxing the region’s health, education and social security systems.

“These alarming figures highlight the urgent need to support host communities in the receiving countries,” said Eduardo Stein, the special representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants for UNHCR and the International Organization on Migration. “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.”

Venezuela has been trapped in an economic and humanitarian crisis for years amid falling oil production, hyperinflation, and widespread corruption and mismanagement. More recently, economic sanctions from Washington and elsewhere are thought to be exacerbating the crisis.

Leader Nicolas Maduro is fighting for his political survival against Juan Guaido, the head of congress whom the United States and more than 50 other countries consider Venezuela’s legitimate president. </s> Feb. 23 (UPI) -- More than 60 Venezuelan National Guard troops defected Saturday from President Nicolas Maduro's regime to Colombia amid an armed government blockade of humanitarian aid.

Some troops abandoned their posts at the Simon Bolivar International Bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border, CNN reported. Two members of the Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela fled with their families, Colombian immigration authorities said.

The Venezuelan guardsmen held rifles and handguns over their heads as they were received by Colombian migration authorities.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, the National Assembly president, whom the United States and nearly 60 other countries have recognized as interim president instead of Maduro, hopes for more defections.

The Venezuelan National Guard fired tear gas and rubber bullets at 500 protesters, attempting to rush into Colombia, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Despite an armed government blockade, Guaido has said that international aid for the country, reeling from a long political and economic crisis, would enter.

Maduro had ordered the blockade of the international bridge connecting the country to the Colombian city of Cucuta earlier this month ahead of U.S. humanitarian aid arriving in Colombia a week ago. Maduro also closed the Venezuela-Brazil border Thursday, citing the planned delivery of foreign aid against his wishes.

While the country's poverty has soared to record levels with a lack of medicine and food, Maduro denies the humanitarian crisis exists and says the U.S. aid efforts are part of a plot to bring down his government.

Maduro, speaking at a rally in the capital of Caracas, severed diplomatic relations with Colombia, and threatened the United States with "the strength of the Venezuelan armed forces."

U.S. Vice President Pence will meet with Guaido on Monday in Bogota, during Pence's visit to Colombia, a White House official said Saturday, according CNN.

"We denounce Maduro's refusal to let humanitarian assistance reach #Venezuela," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo posted on Twitter. "What kind of a sick tyrant stops food from getting to hungry people? The images of burning trucks filled with aid are sickening."

On Friday, at least two people died when troops loyal to Maduro opened fire on citizens attempting to keep Venezuela's southern border with Brazil open to humanitarian aid this weekend.

Guaido took to Twitter to encourage Venezuelans to protest Maduro's blockade of humanitarian aid.

"We call on everyone to go out into the streets on a massive scale throughout the country, to demonstrate peacefully in the barracks to demand # FANB [Venezuelan armed forces] to let humanitarian aid go through," Guaido tweeted Saturday. "Let's make today the cry of an entire people that wants life, future and freedom."
The United Nations reports more than four million Venezuelans have fled their country during the economic and humanitarian crisis.