Away from home, destitute and with shattered dreams: this is the situation of thousands of Venezuelans who started a perilous journey north through Central America towards the United States, but are now unable to cross the border to seek asylum.
They cross Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. Under a new policy announced this month, Washington will give 24,000 Venezuelan migrants humanitarian permits to enter the country by air, while those crossing the border will be sent back to Mexico under so-called Title 42 and no asylum can apply for in the future.
The measure, enacted overnight, fell like a bucket of cold water on thousands of Venezuelan migrants who marched north and are now stranded in Mexico and several Central American countries with an uncertain future between deportation and despair.
Many insist on continuing on their way, but the obstacles have multiplied and thousands are piling up in the countries of Central America, unable to go further or return.
situation in Guatemala
In Guatemala, security forces maintain operations to prevent migrants from entering Mexico. Almost 6,000 were arrested, given comprehensive care and later deported.
Most are Venezuelan, although there are also Cubans, Haitians, Colombians, and Ecuadorians, among other nationalities.
“It is quite difficult to have our children in this situation. We are migrants, we don’t want to stay in the country, we want to move on, and we don’t have enough help to walk to reach our destination,” said a Venezuelan migrant in Guatemala, posing as Irmaris.
After meetings between authorities at the Guatemalan Migration Institute, US officials and the Venezuelan embassy in the country, an agreement was reached to activate a safe conduct plan.
“You save his life. They said they saw tragedy in the Darien Jungle. You have seen very complicated death situations. They don’t want to go on any longer, they want to do it in an orderly manner,” Stuard Rodríguez, director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, told the Voice of America.
Stranded in Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, hundreds of migrants are wandering the streets and squares of Managua not knowing what they are about to do. There, the government has no record of how many Venezuelans are stranded in the country and has announced no action to help them continue their journey or to deport them to Venezuela.
“The option to give us back is complicated because what money do we give back with when we have nothing left? Besides, we’re already here. We have to find the solution of staying in one of these countries until we get something back,” he said Voice of America Carol Velasco, a Venezuelan stranded in Nicaragua.
In Nicaragua, many of the migrants settle near the bus station that goes to Honduras. There they officiate as street vendors or ask for help to continue their journey to the United States. They arrived after traversing the dangerous Panamanian jungles of El Darién and Costa Rica.
“If they deport me, I would say they deport me to my country, because what other country? They will bring us back if we are Venezuelans. But if they send us back, they can’t do that because of the jungle of Panama. It’s a very hard journey, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” said Alberto Jiménez, a Venezuelan migrant.
Honduras prepares emergency plan
Official data, cited by the National Commissioner for Human Rights, shows that Venezuelans account for 35% of irregular immigrants entering Honduras, and this year the number has risen to about 44,000.
Entry restrictions on Venezuelans trying to enter the United States irregularly have led to a visible increase in travelers from that country in Honduras, where nowadays the number of migrants wandering the streets of the capital Tegucigalpa is remarkable, according to local media report.
The US measure has led to tighter controls at Honduras border crossings, according to local media reports, and thousands of Venezuelan migrants have been stranded in that country, the last before Mexico on the journey north.
Humanitarian organizations and churches try to meet the basic needs of these migrants by providing shelter and food while they find a way out.
Some migrants leave the transit country to look for temporary work. Others, including women with children, were seen begging for help on the streets with signs saying they are Venezuelans.
Tegucigalpa Municipal Office Director Russel Garay said the city government is preparing a contingency plan for the situation.
“We want to be supportive and fair, but we try to avoid indebtedness for people in need, which can become a social and criminal problem. We’re already working on a project,” he explained.
President Xiomara Castro’s administration is also submitting an aid proposal with a budget to create infrastructure and provide shelter for around 5,000 migrants, according to the executive branch.
An intergovernmental commission including representatives of the capital’s mayor’s office and the secretariats of health, education, migration and other humanitarian organizations has already met to implement a plan to regulate the transit of migrants through the Honduran capital, causing massive concentrations to avoid.
So far this year, the Honduran Migration Bureau has registered the transit of around 130,000 irregular migrants through the Central District area, most of them Venezuelans, but to a lesser extent also Cubans, Haitians, Colombians and even from African countries.
According to migration forecasts, the flow of travelers could peak next year at up to 220,000 migrants. In 2021, only 17,590 illegal entries into Honduran territory were recorded.
Panama and Costa Rica
Panama also announced this week the closure of the border to Venezuelan migrants trying to enter from Costa Rica without a visa.
In Costa Rica, President Rodrigo Chaves has said they will facilitate transportation to bring Venezuelan migrants to the Nicaragua border.
This was announced by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last Friday would ask the US to increase the number of visas humanitarian aid to the thousands of Venezuelan migrants stranded on Mexican soil, and also urged Washington to reconcile with Caracas, which doesn’t seem very likely in the short term.
(Article by Voice of America).