GENEVA, Feb 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An estimated 2.7 million people have left Venezuela since 2015, the UN said, warning that the exodus amid a devastating political and economic crisis looked set to continue “unabated”.
The figure from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) marks an increase from December, when 2.3 million people were estimated to have fled the country.
UNHCR and the UN migration agency IOM said in a joint statement that an average of 5,000 people left Venezuela every day in 2018, noting that neighbouring countries especially Colombia have taken on most of the burden.
“These figures underscore the strain on host communities and the continued need for support from the international community, at a time when the world’s attention is on political developments inside Venezuela,” Eduardo Stein, joint UNHCR-IOM Special Representative for Venezuela, said in a statement.
UN agencies have estimated that 3.4 million Venezuelans are currently living abroad, a figure that includes those who left before President Nicolas Maduro’s government was engulfed in crisis.
The total number of Venezuelans living outside the country is expected to hit 5.3 million by year’s end, according to the UN.
Meanwhile, thousands of people, many waving Venezuelan flags, flocked to the Venezuela-Colombia border Friday for a charity concert to push for humanitarian aid deliveries in defiance of a blockade by the Venezuelan government.
Humanitarian aid has become a key focus of the power struggle between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognized as interim leader by more than 50 countries.
The tense aid standoff turned deadly even before the concert began, when two people were killed and 15 wounded when they tried to prevent Venezuelan troops from blocking an aid entry point on the Brazilian border.
“An indigenous woman and her husband were killed and at least 15 other members of the Pemon indigenous community were injured,” said a local human rights group, Kape Kape.
The clash occurred in southeastern Bolivar state close to the border with Brazil, which Maduro ordered closed on Thursday.
Guaido, who on Thursday set out from Caracas in a convoy of trucks to personally bring in aid from the border, called on the military to arrest those responsible for the killings, “or you will be responsible.”
Maduro, who retains the support of allies China and Russia and crucially, the powerful military, has blocked the entry of aid and accused the United States of plotting a military intervention.
Hundreds chanted “freedom” and “the government is going to fall” while they waited for the concert to begin under a hot sun on the edge of the Colombian city of Cucuta, the barricaded border crossing visible nearby.
Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute, one of 30 stars performing during the six-hour concert, said he was there “to open a humanitarian channel” for the delivery of aid. “Tomorrow we will be free,” he said.
The line-up includes Latin American giants Carlos Vives and Juanes of Colombia, Juan Luis Guerra of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico’s Luis Fonsi.
Colombian President Ivan Duque, Chile’s Sebastian Pinera and Mario Abdo of Paraguay will participate at the closing ceremony on Friday evening.
In contrast to the milling crowds at Cucuta, hundreds of meters away on the Venezuelan side of the border in Urena, the site of a rival concert announced by Maduro was quiet.
A stage has been built, but there were few people around the site, heavily guarded by military. Maduro earlier this week announced a three-day “Hands Off Venezuela” concert to last until Sunday but few details of the line-up or schedule have been released.
On Thursday he warned those taking part in the Cucuta event: “All the artists that are going to sing in Colombia should know that they are committing a crime, they are endorsing a military intervention.” — NNN-AGENCIES
