Venezuelan Migration: Navigating Economic Challenges and Media Narratives

Economic sanctions have forced millions of Venezuelans to migrate, with many now returning as the country shows modest recovery, according to families directly impacted by what some describe as “economic terrorism.”

Since 2017, an estimated 5.4 to 7.1 million Venezuelans have left their homeland, driven primarily by deteriorating economic conditions that families say were severely worsened by U.S.-imposed sanctions. The migration wave began to accelerate precisely when the Trump administration implemented its first economic sanctions against Venezuela, following Obama’s 2015 designation of the country as an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”

For many Venezuelan families, the decision to leave was not taken lightly. “Never in my life did the thought of migrating cross my mind,” said one retiree who eventually relocated to Ecuador in 2018. “But food was hard to come by, and my pension, which used to be enough for a somewhat modest living, was pulverized by inflation.”

The sanctions have restricted Venezuela’s ability to export oil, its primary source of foreign income, while also freezing billions in foreign assets and blocking the country from participating in the global financial system. Even government food distribution programs have been targeted, according to Venezuelan human rights organizations.

The impact has been devastating on everyday life. One migrant described the situation before leaving in 2017: “To buy food we had to stand in endless queues to get some subsidized products, with no guarantees, or buy overpriced elsewhere, which we couldn’t always afford. It was all nearly impossible.”

Another who fled after a nationwide blackout in 2019 explained: “The blackout was the last straw. We just wanted not to live in crisis anymore. Inflation had obliterated all my savings. I had friends who were eating once a day and I wasn’t going to wait for that to happen to my family as well.”

In 2021, UN human rights expert Alena Douhan visited Venezuela and published a report emphasizing that “the drop of oil revenues, exacerbated by the sanctions, provoked a food and nutrition crisis.” Many Venezuelans faced severe cooking gas shortages and had to resort to cooking with firewood due to sanctions hampering production and controlling the import of liquefied petroleum gas.

However, a significant and underreported development is now emerging. Between 500,000 and 750,000 Venezuelans have returned to their homeland in recent years, according to SURES, a Venezuelan human rights organization. The government’s “Return to the Homeland” program has assisted over 31,000 people in coming back.

This return migration began on a small scale in 2018-2019 but accelerated during the pandemic when social crises worsened across Latin America. Many are now returning as Venezuela experiences a moderate economic recovery, with growth estimates for 2022 ranging between five and 20 percent according to international agencies.

The recovery is primarily attributed to a slight increase in oil production and government economic measures including de-facto dollarization. While inflation has receded, many note that the economic improvement is not yet inclusive enough for everyone.

Meanwhile, media coverage has recently focused on Venezuelans attempting to reach the United States through dangerous routes like the Darien Gap in Panama. According to U.S. migration data, about 150,000 Venezuelan migrants arrived at the southwest border between October 2021 and August 2022, representing only 5.43 percent of the 2.76 million total arrivals.

The Venezuelan migration situation has also become a significant funding channel, with the U.S. government having allocated over $1.2 billion to Latin American countries for “response to the Venezuela regional crisis” through January 2021. Colombia alone received $950 million between 2017-2020, with an additional $376 million announced in September 2022.

As the economic situation in Venezuela continues to evolve, many migrants maintain deep connections to their homeland. “I think about returning to Venezuela every single day,” said one woman now living in Ecuador, who hopes to save enough money to resume her previous work as a social worker at a school for children with disabilities.