Governments implement deficient policies in response to crisis in Venezuela

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced that governments in the American continent implement limited and deficient policies that lead migrants to cross the inhospitable Darien jungle on their way to the United States in the face of crises such as those in Venezuela and Haiti.

“Efforts to regularize migration in the region have often been insufficient due to a combination of restrictive timeframes, complex procedures, burdensome documentation requirements and administrative delays,” said a report published on Wednesday.

HRW analyzed the guidelines of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru and identified challenges in generating real opportunities for socioeconomic integration for migrants before they flee to the United States through the Darien.

That situation, according to the report, has driven thousands of people to cross the 575,000-hectare jungle between Panama and Colombia, despite facing dangers such as fast-flowing rivers, wild animals and criminal groups.

HRW criticized the agreement reached between the United States and Panama to expel migrants arriving through that corridor by air, with funding from Washington: “This agreement is likely to further worsen access to refuge in the region.”

According to figures collected by the NGO, in the last year and a half more than 700,000 people have crossed the Darien River fleeing violence, persecution and humanitarian crises. Of these, 477,000 are Venezuelans, 60,000 Ecuadorians and 41,000 Haitians.

“The crises in Venezuela and Haiti are worsening and are calling for governments across the Americas, including the United States, to improve their migration policies,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director of HRW, in the report.

Since July 28, Venezuela has been immersed in a post-election crisis following the proclaimed re-election of Nicolás Maduro amid accusations of fraud by the opposition, with spontaneous protests that left 27 dead, about 200 injured and 2,400 arrested. His rival Edmundo Gonzáles Urrutia, who claims victory, had to go into exile in Spain.

HRW highlights a survey by the firm Megaanálisis in which 43% of respondents were considering leaving Venezuela.

Haiti is also in the midst of a political and human rights crisis after several of the gangs that control the capital joined forces in February to overthrow controversial Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was eventually replaced by a transitional government.

The violence of these gangs, accused of murder, looting, rape and kidnapping, has left almost 600,000 internally displaced between January and June 2024 and has led to 5.5 million people, almost half of the population, suffering humanitarian needs, according to the NGO.

HRW called on American governments to “implement a temporary protection regime throughout the region that grants all Venezuelans and Haitians regular status for a reasonable and renewable period.”

It also aims to “create an equitable regional mechanism” to process asylum applications.