United Nations (AP) – Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes called the massive arrival of Venezuelan to his country as a “national security issue” after meeting with the Secretary-General of the UN, who raised the situation to him and told him that it’s a regional problem. From the headquarters of the Organization, Holmes said Thursday to reporters that the Secretary General António Guterres pledged to prepare a mechanism of coordination with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency) “UNHCR) with the aim to better serve the crisis.” “We have taken a step forward in that direction of the utmost importance and will continue to work very closely with the Organization of the United Nations”, said Holmes.
ERI Kaneko, UN spokesman, confirmed to The Associated Press that Guterres wants to get down to work. The spokeswoman said that Guterres Friday meet representatives of IOM and the Office of the High Commissioner for refugees, perhaps among other United Nations entities, to organize the system of coordination and “ensure that the UN handles the issue properly”. Holmes not clarified if the request of Colombia that the UN adopt a Special Envoy in charge of the effort was answered.
It is estimated that more than one million Venezuelans have come to Colombia in less than two years, many of them using the country as a bridge to Ecuador or Peru.
Recent economic measures adopted by President Nicolas Maduro have sparked fear in the Governments of the region to enhance the flow of Venezuelans who leave their country. Mature this week ordered the conversion of the currency, which removed five zeros, to deal with hyper-inflation, which according to the International Monetary Fund could close this year by one million per cent. From Bogota, Colombia migration announced in statement that next week the local migration authorities with representatives of Peru and Ecuador will meet in that city in order to review the situation of thousands of Venezuelans who are displaced by those countries.” The exodus of Venezuelan citizens is not a problem exclusive to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador or a just country. We want to make a call to the Venezuelan citizens so that they comply with the immigration regulations in each country, and so they do not expose its integrity in this type of crossings. The topography and climate of the region are harsh and may cost them their lives,”said Christian Krüger, director of the institution.
Venezuelan passport-free walk down a road after crossing the international bridge Rumichaca from Colombia before reaching another checkpoint in Rumichaca, Ecuador, Sunday, August 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In Ecuador, the Minister of the Interior, Mauro Toscanini, announced that a humanitarian corridor for the transfer of Venezuelan was created in buses with a police escort to the border with Peru, after the presentation of an identity document. He added that in the case of a couple, if one has and the other not, pass both and that children are exempt from that requirement because in Venezuela identity card is not delivered until the age of nine. On the other hand, the Ecuadorian Church summoned the same Thursday Bolivarian Government – Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela – to allow free movement of Venezuelans for the region in order to reduce the hardships that go on the long journeys to they performed, many times walking. The President of the Episcopal Conference, Eugenio Arellano, proposed at a press conference that the Government of Ecuador “lead a meeting of the Bolivarian countries, so that each country recognizes freedom of movement by countries”.
Ecuador had convened a Summit in September from 13 countries of the continent, including Venezuela, to seek joint actions.
Arellano also called on President Lenín Moreno to responsible to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a speedy action to laws and regulations that are “damming Venezuelan migrants at the borders with Colombia and Peru, thus aggravating the agglomeration and the hacinación… in the” border crossings”. He thanked thousands of Ecuadorians who have offered the Venezuelan food, shelter, clothing and even free transportation throughout the Ecuadorian territory also “offering the hand, smile and close”. On the border between Ecuador and Colombia thousands of Venezuelans crowd before the immigration facilities, where they sleep for days outdoors, to enter this country in many cases heading to Peru, Chile and Argentina, among others. For its part, Peru began to portray and record the fingerprints of foreigners who enter the border shared with Ecuador to a little more than 24 hours from the onset of the requirement of passports for Venezuelan migrants who enter the country. The Minister of the Interior, Mauro Medina, said from the binational Centre of attention on border, in the border region of Tumbes, the information obtained will be shared with the police and enter the system of Immigration Control. “Prudential safety of Peruvians and foreigners in the national territory”, he added. Medina explained that after obtaining fingerprints digital and photography you can meet abroad if arrest by Interpol or if you are suspected of a crime.
Peru has four immigration control points along its border with Ecuador. According to Peruvian authorities, there are more than 385.000 Venezuelans in the country.
In this note: United Nations International Organization for the migrations Carlos Holmes
