While the eccentric dictator Nicolas Maduro claims that this is a picture of the country created by “media labs”, thousands of Venezuelans flee the country every day, escaping a terrible economic crisis with an inflation rate of 2.000% (according to the Parliament, where the opposition outnumbers Maduro’s followers), elevated levels of insecurity (26,616 violent deaths were reported in 2017, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence), and a sanitary crisis with no precedents.

Colombia is the main refuge for the Venezuelan exodus, there are around 550,000 residents, according to the Colombian government. Every day, over 30,000 Venezuelans cross the border into Colombia, most of them looking for food and medicine, according to EFE.

Hundreds of Venezuelans go to the street markets of the border city of Cúcuta, to receive remittances. The reason they need to leave the country to receive those remittances are the monetary restrictions of the Government, which reduced cash.

Another destination is Brazil. Between January and September 2017, 12,193 Venezuelans requested shelter in the Brazilian territory, crossing the border of Roraima. The number of migrants has increased during the past few months. Another 40,000 Venezuelans have arrived to Boa Vista, the nearest regional Brazilian capital. Brazilian president Michel Temer, recently gathered with his cabinet to find a solution to the entrance of Venezuelans in the country.

The undersecretary of the United States for Latin America and the Caribbean, Francisco Palmieri, stated that his country is analyzing what kind of technical and humanitarian support can be implemented to support Colombia and Brazil. The US is another major destination for Venezuelan citizens, as estimations from the Observatory of the Voz de la Diáspora Venezolana claims the number is around 400,000 and 450,000.

In Argentina, where the number of residences granted to Venezuelan citizens increased 142% in 2017 (31,167), the government is taking specific measures. During January 2018, 9,800 Venezuelans arrived at the country. The arrival of Venezuelans to Argentinian soil grew 1,600% during the last four years, and the government expects a record of residences’ applications for 2018.

Clearly, this exodus is having a major impact on the labour markets of the region.

The Peruvian government withdrew the invitation sent to the Venezuelan president to the Eight Americas Summit, to be developed in Lima on April 13-14. The reason was the “constitutional alteration of the democratic order”, an “insuperable obstacle”. The Group of Lima includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, and was created given the impossibility of passing resolutions on Venezuela at the Organization of American States due to the blockage of Caribbean countries.