Colombia to grant temporary legal status to nearly one million Venezuelan migrants

The Colombian government has announced the regularisation of one million undocumented Venezuelan migrants through a ten-year temporary protection status. In total, almost six million Venezuelans have left the country fleeing the crisis. 

"We make public our country's decision to create a temporary protection status in Colombia that will allow us to carry out a regularisation process for migrants," said Colombian President Iván Duque, accompanied by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, after a meeting in Bogotá.

Other countries in the region, such as Peru and Argentina, have implemented similar regularisation mechanisms, although without the magnitude of Colombia's, which is the country with the most Venezuelan migrants. A few years ago, at the height of the conflict between the FARC and the Colombian state, one million people were received in Venezuela. Now the situation is reversed and the Colombian president sees it as a way of returning the favour to the "Venezuelan brothers".

The truth is that the Venezuelan issue has been central to Duque's discourse since before he became president, when he raised the spectre of "Castro-Chavismo" against his main rival at the polls, the left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro. Once he became president, one of his main foreign policy objectives was to put an end to the Maduro government, establishing a diplomatic siege, cutting off bilateral relations and recognising Guaidó as president in charge after his self-proclamation in 2019.

The regularisation comes on the eve of the start of the vaccination campaign from 20 February. Something that contrasts with the controversial words of Duque who recently assured that "those who do not have at this moment the accreditation of being Colombian citizens, and who do not have their migratory situation regularised, of course they will not (receive the vaccine)". 

In any case, the Colombian president now calls on other countries in the region to follow his example, and for the international community to contribute resources to attend to the migrant population. "Colombia reaffirms its love and support for all the Venezuelan people," he declared.

"We welcome the announcement of temporary protected status for the more than 1.7 million Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. The United States stands with Colombia in support of refugees and migrants as we work to rebuild and expand our humanitarian programmes around the world," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on his Twitter account, welcoming the Colombian government's move. For its part, the US embassy in Colombia announced on the same social network that it had contributed 500 million dollars in humanitarian assistance.

The fall in the price of oil, on which the Venezuelan economy depends heavily, has led to a major economic crisis that has generated food and medicine shortages, hyperinflation and insecurity. Continued political polarisation and sanctions imposed by the United States, especially during the Trump administration, have only further deteriorated the situation in the Latin American country. While Biden recently relaxed sanctions on ordinary operations at ports and airports.

The legal mechanism seeks to establish a single registry of the Venezuelan migrant population, grant the temporary benefit of regularisation and eventually facilitate transit to the ordinary migration regime. The measure will be open to all regular Venezuelan migrants and those in an irregular situation until 31 January 2021, as well as those who enter Colombia through a migration checkpoint during the first two years of the Temporary Protection Status for Venezuelan Migrants.

"This important act of solidarity will allow approximately one third of the five million Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the region to formally access services and contribute to the Colombian economy," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) also welcomed on its Twitter account "the protection measures for Venezuelan people" and especially "the Temporary Statute of Protection for Venezuelan Migrants".

For the UNHCR representative, Filippo Grandi, "it is an emblematic humanitarian gesture for the region, even for the whole world". This opinion contrasts with that of the deputy and vice-president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, who declared that "behind this announcement is the money, the business" and assured that "it will benefit absolutely no one". 

COVID-19 makes their situation even more precarious

Nine out of ten Venezuelan migrants in Colombia work in the informal sector. Moreover, the measures adopted by the Colombian authorities to contain the coronavirus have made it substantially more difficult for them to find jobs to survive. The border between the two countries is currently closed, but the migratory flow has not stopped. 

Another problem facing Venezuelan migrants is the growing xenophobia in the host country. Even among some leading politicians, such as the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, who generated controversy by linking crime to Venezuelan migrants. 

The majority of Colombians prefer the border to remain closed, up to 72 per cent according to a survey by Invimar, as opposed to 25 per cent who favour opening it. The survey was conducted in January in some of the country's main cities (Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla and Bucaramanga). 

On 6 December last, the National Assembly was renewed in elections that were not recognised by the European Union or the United States and in which the opposition sector led by Juan Guaidó did not participate. 

With a turnout of 30.5%, according to CNE data, the alliance led by the PSUV won 67.6% of the votes and proceeded to appoint Jesús Rodríguez as president of the NA.

Guaidó and his allies, for their part, claimed the so-called administrative continuity of the previous NA. In this way, Guaidó could continue to claim himself as president-in-charge insofar as, if he were to recognise the legitimacy of the new Assembly, he would not be president of the legislative body as he would not even be a deputy.

The complex situation in which the opposition leader finds himself has become evident within his own ranks and among his international allies. On the one hand, Biden and Secretary of State Blinken announced that they would continue to recognise Guaidó as president in charge.

On the other hand, the European Union decided in early January to stop recognising him. While recognising the 2015 legislative elections as the last free expression of Venezuelans in an electoral process, the EU bloc refused to support the extension of Guaidó's mandate. A view not shared by the majority of the European Parliament, which at the end of January called on EU leaders to continue recognising the interim Venezuelan presidency. 

Regional and local elections will soon take place, which will pose a new challenge for the young Venezuelan leader as some sectors of the opposition, such as Acción Democrática and Capriles' sector of Primero Justicia, are pushing to change their strategy and go to the polls. Precisely Capriles has been one of the most critical of Guaidó's leadership in recent months.

The political and economic crisis continues to make life difficult for the citizens of the Caribbean country and there is no sign of recovery in the near future, so the flow of Venezuelans migrating abroad is expected to continue.