A People Without a Home

 The Venezuelan migration and refugee crisis (also known as the Bolivarian diaspora), the largest recorded refugee crisis in the Americas, refers to the emigration of millions of Venezuelans from their native country during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro because of the Bolivarian Revolution. During the crisis, Venezuelans have often been asked about their desire to leave their native country, and over 30 percent of those asked in a December 2015 survey said that they planned to permanently leave Venezuela. The percentage nearly doubled the following September as, according to Datincorp, 57 percent of respondents wanted to leave the country. By mid-2019, over four million Venezuelans, around 13 percent of the country’s population, had emigrated since the revolution began in 1999.

The United Nations predicted that by the end of 2019, there would have been over 5 million recorded emigrants during the Venezuelan crisis, over 15% of the population.[26] A late-2018 study by the Brookings Institution suggested that emigration would reach 6 million – approximately 20% of Venezuela’s 2017 population – by the end of 2019,[27] with a mid-2019 poll by Consultares 21 estimating that up to 6 million Venezuelans had fled the country by this point; estimates going into 2020 suggested that the number of Venezuelan migrants and refugees was overtaking the 6 million figure. Six million was at this time the number of refugees from the Syrian Civil War, which started years before the recorded Venezuelan crisis and was considered the worst humanitarian disaster in the world at the time.

Operation Family Freedom has always worked hard to comply with local and international laws in all transactions and efforts. Over the past 10 years, Operation Family Freedom has had the privilege of helping tens of families escape social, political, and economic challenges in Venezuela. We have seen families travel to and through virtually every South American Country. Sometimes obtaining the proper paperwork has been a challenge, on a few occasions it wasn’t possible until after arrival. Under all these circumstances we have encouraged and facilitated legal and legitimate travel.

As the Pandemic took control of the world maintaining the legal paperwork for these immigrants became more and more challenging for them. Prices went up, restrictions tightened, medical bills soared and  work became less abundant. During the month of May, Operation Family Freedom issued two One-Time Emergency Grants to assist two different Venezuelan families living in Argentina. Without the required renewal of the work Visas, they would have lost their jobs and been forced onto the streets. It was out of desperation and complete loss of options that these families applied for a grant. Due to several recent generous donations, we were able to facilitate the Visa Application process and keep these two families in a situation where they can continue to take care of themselves.

*Photos are of some of the families Operation Family Freedom has helped Migrate to other countries, and are not necessarily the same families that received the grants in may .