Millions of Venezuelans do not have access to basic services in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to report

(Reuters) — Some 4.3 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean lack basic services, food and formal employment despite regularization and support efforts in host countries, according to the Refugee and Migrant Needs Analysis (RMNA) report. ), released Wednesday by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Venezuelan diaspora to the United States has exploded in the last decade, driven mainly by poverty and violence. In 2022, it represented around 71% of the more than 150,000 migrants who entered Panama through the dangerous Darién jungle, which borders Colombia.

“Half of the refugee and migrant population in the region cannot afford three meals a day,” UNHCR and IOM said in a joint statement, presenting the study.

The report, called the Refugee and Migrant Needs Analysis (RMNA), details that “to buy food or avoid living on the streets, many Venezuelans are forced to resort to survival sex, begging or indebtedness.”

The rapid increase in the cost of living, the impact of the pandemic and unemployment have exacerbated the vulnerability of Venezuelans who emigrate, adds the study by the Regional Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V), co-directed by the UNHCR and IOM.

According to Eduardo Stein, representative of the UNHCR and the IOM, “host countries have shown constant leadership in their response to the crisis, adopting regularization measures and facilitating access to health, education and other social services”, but it is not enough.

A study published Wednesday by the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office revealed that 10,000 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, are stranded in a town in northwestern Colombia while a ship arrives to cross the Gulf of Urabá and then enter the Darién.