Brazil, Venezuela, and a migration crisis that refuses to end

Since the economic and political turmoil of the early 2010s plunged Venezuela into unprecedented economic and humanitarian collapse, official statistics show that more than 7 million people have fled the country, with some 6 million already settled in other parts of Latin America, especially in countries bordering Venezuela.  

This ongoing exodus also spans two years of a deadly pandemic, which worsened the desperate situation of migrants and at its peak saw some sent back to their places of origin. And as already-clobbered economies faced what the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) called “the biggest contraction ever,” nations feared that, after Covid, curbing migration figures would become even more challenging.

These expectations proved true — and the Brazil-Venezuela border is a textbook example. 

That is what a new report published by the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) discloses. In the study, accessed by The Brazilian Report, multiple experts warn that the current humanitarian crisis along the 2,199-kilometer-long border shows no sign of abating, representing a “severe challenge” to the new administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 

Using data from the cities of Pacaraima, Cantá, and Boa Vista, all in the Brazilian state of Roraima, and the Venezuelan municipality of Santa Elena de Uairén, researchers put together a list of emergency actions that must be taken to address what they call a “state of permanent migration” in this crisis-ridden region. 

Numbers support their call for urgent action.

According to official statistics, 56 percent of all the applications for refugee status in Brazil in February 2023 came from Venezuelan citizens. That is a lower figure than the 78-percent share seen in the same month in 2022, but shows that, even today, up to 2,600 Venezuelans per month are still applying for refugee status in Brazil.  

Speaking to The Brazilian Report, UERJ international law professor and the coordinator of...