GameChangers 2018: Venezuelan Migration a New Gold Mine for Organized Crime

[rangerrebew]

GameChangers 2018: Venezuelan Migration a New Gold Mine for Organized Crime
Written by
Ronna Rísquez and Josefina Salomón
-
January 8, 2019
 

Turbulence reigned in 2018, but there was one constant: the flow of Venezuelans fleeing their country. The unceasing migration has left thousands of people homeless, penniless and ripe for exploitation by organized crime groups.

Mariana, a manicurist from the city of Maracaibo, is one example. It took her half a day to cross the border from Venezuela to Colombia. She did not need a passport or any other identification document, nor did she deal with a single immigration official. There weren’t even any rivers to cross. All she had to do was pay a little over 20,000 bolivars and 10,000 Colombian pesos (about $34 in May 2018) — all her savings at the time to reserve one of five seats in a car used by a friend to transport Venezuelans across the border from the state of Zulia via the Colombian town of Paraguachón.

https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/gamechangers-2018-venezuelan-migration-organized-crime/

[rangerrebew]

Surely many from Venezuela will find there way here; with no money, poorly educated, and in need of welfare.