The flow of Venezuelan migrants seeking to reach the United States It has experienced a notable increase of 150% in 2022, a trend that has remained constant in the last three years, according to Luis Rey García Villagrán, leader of a pro-migrant organization in the state of Chiapas, southeastern Mexico.
Since 2017, Venezuelan migrants began to arrive in Mexico, and since then, their number has been increasing and has been sustained over time. This population of migrants is atypical in the country, and thousands of them are surviving in precarious conditions.
García Villagrán pointed out that the streets of the entire Mexican geography are full of Venezuelan migrantsmany of whom are forced to beg and, unfortunately, a significant number of women have been forced into sex work to survive.
The leader highlighted that, previously, migrants from Central American countries They occupied the first places in the migration statistics to Mexico, but in recent years, the situation has changed drastically.
Unofficially, it is estimated that during the first quarter of 2023, approximately 20,000 Venezuelans have arrived in Mexicowhich represents four times more than in the same period of the previous year.
On July 11, the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) of the Ministry of the Interior (Interior) revealed that during the first semester of 2023, some 3,511 Venezuelan migrants applied for refuge in Mexico, which places them as the fourth nationality with the highest number of applications, after people from Haiti (29,532), Honduras (18,210) and Cuba (5,034).
La Comar reported that during the first semester of 2023, it has received a total of 74,646 refugee applications and, based on this figure, it is projected that by the end of the year, the number of refugee applications could be unprecedented, reaching up to 150,000 cases.
The general coordinator of the Comar, Andrés Ramírez, admitted in an interview with EFE that this figure would significantly exceed the record number registered in 2021, which was 129,769 applications.
On the banks of the Suchiate River, the natural border that divides Mexico and Guatemala, there are around 1,000 Venezuelan migrants stranded on the southern border of Mexico, who have set up a camp waiting for the Mexican government to address their immigration process and allow them to move towards the United States.
Anderson Peralta, a Venezuelan migrant present at the camp, shared his experience and revealed that leaving his country and making the journey to the United States is extremely difficult, since they must raise at least $2,000 per person to reach the northern border of Mexico, not including lodging expenses.
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