EU hosts Venezuela migrant talks

BRUSSELS (AP):

HUNDREDS OF representatives from governments, international agencies and charity groups gathered in Brussels on Monday for a ‘solidarity conference’ to drum up support for millions of Venezuelans who have fled the political crisis and to help neighbouring countries that are taking them in.

The South American nation of roughly 30 million people is gripped by a deepening political and economic crisis. People live in fear of anything from violent street protests to a massive power failure. The International Monetary Fund says inflation is expected to hit a staggering 200,000 per cent this year.

Around 4.5 million people have fled Venezuela in recent years to escape low wages, failing basic services and a lack of security, and the numbers will soon surpass the 5.6 million who’ve left conflict-ravaged Syria since 2011 if departures continue at the same rate.

IMPLICATIONS

“The magnitude, reach and complexity of the current crisis has some global implications, including the European continent. It can also pose risks to regional stability,” Eduardo Stein, the Venezuela envoy for the United Nation’s refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration, told delegates at the start of the twoday meeting in the Belgian capital.

“For the coming year, we project the total number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants worldwide to pass from 4.5 million to 6.5 million, nearly 85 per cent of whom will be found in Latin America,” he said.

Most Venezuelans have remained in Latin America, notably Colombia or the Caribbean, weighing heavily on those economies.

Stein said the sheer weight of arrivals in host countries “has overburdened their institutional scaffolding” and that “their budgets are exhausted”.