Not being enough with the humanitarian crisis and the natural catastrophes that Venezuelans are going through, they also have to endure xenophobia abroad

It is no secret to the world that Venezuela is going through a complex humanitarian crisis, even though its government is reluctant to publicly accept the deplorable conditions in which its citizens are and for which they have been forced to leave their country, their family and their homes.

One of the three conclusions obtained by the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice of Mexico (CCSPJP, by its acronym in Spanish), with the latest report on the most violent cities in the world, was "the growing difficulty to recognize the magnitude of homicidal violence in Venezuela, in addition to the demographic phenomenon that this country is suffering."

Leer en español: Venezuela: Más allá de una crisis política

The CCSPJP also refers to the serious crisis in all the orders that Venezuela has been facing for some years, which has intensified for three years, and the considerable concern about the growing inability to count their dead.

According to official data that this organization receives annually, the information on the subject was much scarcer in 2017 than in previous years, less specific and less periodic. That is why two Venezuelan cities came out of the ranking and not because a decrease in homicides.

On the contrary, it is due to the accelerated process of depopulation, in which around four million inhabitants have left the country and more than half of them in the last three years. The official population estimates are not real, nor are the rates of homicides based on them, but they believe they are bigger.

Some neighboring countries from their Ministries of Foreign Affairs, such as Colombia and Peru, have taken measures to cooperate with Venezuelans who enter their territory. For this purpose, they have issued Special or Temporary Permits of Permanence so that they are not in illegality, so that they can obtain jobs and other basic rights, and to be able to locate themselves in a dignified way, even temporarily.

Speaking to a family of Venezuelans who came to Colombia 4 months ago for the inability to acquire basic services in their native country, they confirm that they are without food, without medicines, without basic services such as electricity, health and safety, without a real entity control that protects them and ensures their well-being.

You can also read: Colombians deported from Venezuela: This is their double tragedy

In addition to that is the huge flood due to the overflow of the Orinoco and Caroní rivers, and an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 that took place on August 21. This is a situation that certainly worries them, since the possibility of returning to their lands becomes uncertain. When arriving in a neighboring country, it would seem that all this situation, which gets out of hand, was not enough.

In addition, they are appearing more and more citizens who in the midst of their fear of the transformations that their countries can suffer from the growing migration, are no more than selfish xenophobes with lack of empathy with citizens who only want to survive. This taking IGNORE INTO account that the country that is now in crisis, at some point was a refuge for other migrants.

It is incredible that some Venezuelans are going out to streets with fear because of the verbal and physical mistreatment, just because they have emigrated and are looking for other opportunities, since in their country of origin it is not impossible to acquire the enough money to feed, dress and live.

In Brazil, an unfortunate event has already happened. According to the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, citizens of the town of Pacaraima, bordering Venezuela, burned the personal objects and the tents in which Venezuelans were sleeping, only because of the stigmas and hateful generalizations that do not allow us to grow as a society. Those in which for a few, all end up having the same label.

No country, no human being is exempt from an event like the one Venezuelans are living today. Although as emotional beings we always think first of our well-being, sometimes we also have to have an affective participation in a reality alien to ours.

LatinAmerican Post | Natalia Isaza Chavarría

Translated from "Venezuela: Más allá de una crisis política"

* Writer's opinion does not represent that of this newspaper