The governments of Colombia and Peru reportedly launched plans to fortify their borders on Tuesday, fearing that ongoing political turmoil in Venezuela, sparked by a fake presidential election forced by the White House, will trigger a new wave of mass migration.
Venezuela’s socialist government, in power since 1999, has already as a result An estimated 8 million people have fled what was once Latin America’s wealthiest country. Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Chile have taken in hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans over the past decade, straining already weak political and law enforcement institutions. Venezuelans have also fled in large numbers to Western countries such as the United States, Spain and Italy.
The dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro declared itself the “winner” on Sunday in a sham election designed to deny the public any meaningful choice on the ballot, renewing fears of a new wave of immigration. Maduro himself appeared on the ballot 13 times, with the other posts being filled by communists, pro-socialist puppet candidates, and one legitimate opposition figure, Edmundo González, an elderly former diplomat. González took the post that should have been won by former congressman Maria Corina Machado, who won the anti-socialist opposition primary in October.
President Maduro banned Machado from running for public office and used the Supreme Court, which is fully controlled by his regime, to invalidate the primary elections.
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Gonzalez and Machado spoke on Monday as their team retrieved vote results from local polling stations across the country. Website It presented what the opposition claims are the true results of the election, which showed Gonzalez winning with 67% of the vote to Maduro’s 30%.
As a result of the evidence, most Latin American countries have refused to accept Maduro as the winner, and his government responded on Monday by formally severing diplomatic ties with Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
Public anger over the apparent theft of the presidency has sparked protests across Venezuela, with protesters toppling statues of Hugo Chavez, the founder of “Bolivarian Socialism,” and banging pots and pans, a traditional expression of opposition in Latin America. As of Wednesday, local civil society organizations were Documented Thirteen protesters have been killed in more than 200 protests across the country.
In Colombia, photograph Colombia is home to 2.8 million Venezuelans, but the country experienced a similar exodus of Venezuelans in the 1970s and 1980s, so the defense ministries met on Tuesday to discuss strengthening the border between the two countries. Venezuela and Colombia are connected by a bridge in the city of Cucuta, which Venezuelans frequently use to buy basic goods unavailable under socialism.
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Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velazquez met with officials from the northern Santander region to discuss “the strengthening of infantry forces in the region and the migration situation on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.” according to to the Ministry of Defense. Colombia closed its borders during the election period but reopened the Cúcuta Bridge on Monday, reportedly with increased security.
Argentine news agency Infobae reported that as a result of the talks, Colombia’s federal government plans to mobilize several military police battalions elsewhere in the country to allow for more troops to be deployed on the border.
In Peru, which does not share a border with Venezuela, the government has rapidly strengthened its border with Ecuador in preparation for Venezuelan migrants. sent The government this week deployed more than 1,000 police troops and additional soldiers to the Ecuadorian border and began deploying surveillance drones in the border area.
“we [people] “It’s on the same scale as the last exodus,” Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier Gonzalez Olaechea said. Said on tuesday.
Across the border in Ecuador, local media expressed concern that a new wave of migrants from Venezuela could soon hit a country already strained by gang violence. El UniversoEcuador, a country of 18 million people, has welcomed about 2 million Venezuelans over the past six years. A wave of mass migration in 2018 caused a humanitarian crisis in Ecuador that Venezuelans there recall and fear could happen again in the near future.
Ecuador’s President Daniel Novoa has not commented directly on the possibility of a new wave of migration from Venezuela, but his government Rejected Calling for President Maduro to be recognized as the winner of the fake election, Noboa himself acknowledged the plight of Venezuelans in the country in remarks on Tuesday.
“Many of them have endured very difficult days, especially during these difficult times, seeing what is happening in our brotherly country,” he said. Said Noboa also reportedly recognized that, like Colombia, Ecuador was the richest country in the region in the 1960s and 1970s when it lost thousands of people to migration to Venezuela.
Novoa It is called The Organization of American States (OAS) is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss Venezuela’s fraudulent elections.
Chile, another country hosting thousands of Venezuelans, expressed concern this week about the surge in migrants but has not yet moved troops to the border (Chile does not share a border with Venezuela).
“All circumstances suggest that we will see a new migration wave in the coming weeks and months, very similar to 2018, with Chile being one of the destination countries. It is a very complex situation,” Chilean Vice President Carolina Toja said. Predicted Tuesday. President Maduro was also “re-elected” in a sham vote that year.
However, Toha pointed out that “the wave of immigration has not stopped for even a moment.”
“All this time, and not just in Chile, we have felt our experience very strongly, because it is natural. But if you look at the experience of other countries in the region, the number of people coming from Venezuela in search of the possibility of rebuilding their lives is much greater than what happened in Chile,” Toja explained.
Toha argued that the government “must prepare” for a larger influx of immigrants.
The one exception to the widespread concern about Venezuelan migrants was Argentina, where liberal President Javier Mirey, a longtime foe of Maduro, issued a statement welcoming Venezuelans into the country.
“We will not accept this fraud and we call on the international community to unite to restore the rule of law in Venezuela, and we remind the Venezuelan people that the doors of our country are open to all those who choose to live in freedom,” Milley said. I have written in a social media message on Monday.
