Opinion: What Venezuela's turn away from democracy means for U.S. migration
Opinion by Tirana Hassan • 2h
In September, I went to the infamous Darién Gap. Over the last year and a half, more than 700,000 people have traversed this unforgiving slice of jungle that divides Colombia from Panama. It is so riddled with violence and rape that women there told me they have to travel with the morning-after pill.
About 68% of people crossing there are Venezuelans, heading north to seek safety. They are among the nearly 8 million who have fled their country in the last decade.
One family I met at the gap had fled Venezuela years ago and resettled in Colombia, where the parents had jobs and the children attended school and received medical care. Before the Venezuelan presidential elections in July, it seemed things were looking up and the country might return to democracy. Buoyed by this possibility, the family sold everything they had in Colombia and traveled back home to cast their votes. “We thought things were going to change,” the father told me.
They had reason to be hopeful. In October last year, the administration of President Nicolás Maduro and a coalition of opposition parties agreed to terms for free and fair elections in what was known as the Barbados Agreement. The day after the deal, the United States government offered to withdraw sanctions on Venezuelan oil, gas, sovereign bonds and gold.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/opinion-what-venezuela-s-turn-away-from-democracy-means-for-u-s-migration/ar-AA1tfX4x?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=c5709b69c44e48a185b24db65a679556&ei=132
