The Venezuela refugee crisis is one of the most undiscovered catastrophes of our generation.
- One in ten Venezuelans have fled the collapsing society and economy of Venezuela over the last four years.
- The country is experiencing frequent power outages, food and medicine shortages, a collapsing economy, and rising crime rates.
- In the opening months of 2018 the United Nations reported that more than 1.1 million Venezuelans had fled the country. This was the largest displacement of people in the history of Latin America but largely overshadowed by what was taking place in Syria and Myanmar at the time.
- By the beginning of 2018 more than 600,000 Venezuelan refugees had fled to neighboring Colombia. Tens of thousands had fled to Brazil. More than 60,000 Venezuelans had applied for asylum in the US.
- By August 2018 the United Nations raised their count of Venezuelan refugees fleeing the country to 2.3 million. Other well reputed international organizations placed the number of Venezuelan refugees closer to 4 million.
A large proportion of these refugees are suffering from malnourishment as the Venezuelan healthcare system has collapsed. Hospitals can no longer afford the most basic of medicines and treatment.
- Neighboring countries are finding their own economies and domestic infrastructure strained by the influx of refugees.
- Bordering nations have imposed limits to the number of Venezuelan refugees who can enter their currently but these are violated every day. As a result military forces have been stationed at many of the borders and outbursts of violence and mob riots are frequent.
- Several high profile international organizations have already suggested the Venezuelan refugee crisis is line or worse with what has been seen in Syria.
- The United Nations has appointed a special envoy to deal with the massive Venezuelan refugee crisis.