Large Venezuelan Migration Sparks Xenophobic Backlash In Colombia



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Jose Paéz (right), who migrated from Venezuela, pleads with a Colombian police officer. He was detained with about 50 other people at a roadblock in Pamplona.

John Otis for NPR




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John Otis for NPR


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The message that Venezuelan migrants are no longer welcome comes from average Colombian citizens and powerful government officials alike. Last week, for example, Colombian President Iván Duque announced that undocumented Venezuelan migrants would not receive vaccinations for the coronavirus despite concerns from refugee agencies that this policy could lead to more infections.

«Of course they won’t get it,» Duque told a Bogotá radio station. «Otherwise we would have a stampede with the whole world crossing the border to get vaccinated.»

Research shows that Venezuelans in Colombia are more likely to be the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators. But after a Venezuelan migrant stabbed to death a bus passenger in Bogotá in October, Mayor Claudia López declared: «I don’t want to stigmatize immigrants but there are some Venezuelans involved in crimes who are making our lives impossible.»

Meanwhile, local officials all across Colombia complain that they’ve been left largely on their own to deal with a flood of sick and impoverished Venezuelans. This burden comes at a time when the pandemic is already severely straining town and city budgets and is filling up local hospitals with COVID-19 patients.

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People who migrated from Venezuela to Colombia are deported.

John Otis for NPR


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John Otis for NPR

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Pamplona resident Nelson Maldonado helped organize a demonstration against the town’s plan to open a shelter for the migrants.

John Otis for NPR


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Marta Duque hands out food to a migrant from Venezuela.

John Otis for NPR


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The Coronavirus Crisis
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In one such operation near Pamplona, police officers set up a roadblock and detain about 50 Venezuelans, including José Páez. Explaining his decision to leave his homeland, Páez points out that his weekly salary as a baker in Caracas was worth less than a dollar — not even enough to buy a bag of rice. His possessions now amount to a small backpack stuffed with clothes and two peaches that he pulls from his pants pockets.

Turning to the police, Páez begs them to allow him to continue his journey on foot toward Bogotá.

«I’ve been walking for two days,» he says, «and now you are going to send me back?»

Ignoring his pleas, the police put Páez and the other migrants aboard trucks bound for the Venezuelan border.

  • Venezuelan migrants
  • Venezuela
  • Colombia
  • South America



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