Venezuelan Migrant Crisis

As we enter a new decade, many problems of the past are still not solved, one of them being the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis, a refugee crisis that could eventually surpass the amount of refugees fleeing Syria. Currently, over 4.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015, and it is estimated to reach 6.5 million by the end of 2020. If the situation in Venezuela doesn't improve drastically, it could eventually reach over 8 million refugees. One might think that "Despite popular belief that Venezuela is a country ravaged by war, the crisis is caused by hyperinflation and economic degradation. However, daily life for citizens of this country are very similar to conditions of those living in a war zone."To truly understand the migrant crisis in Venezuela we must go back to the beginning of the 21st century. In 1999 President Hugo Chávez began the Bolivarian Revolution to bring democratic and socialist practices into Venezuela, but Chávez and his successor Nicolas Maduro used the Bolivarian Revolution to consolidate their authoritarian regime. Due to the authoritarian regime the citizens were under, it was impossible to go against Hugo Chávez or Nicolas Maduro, leading to a country with no freedoms whatsoever.  This dystopian society had already led to many  citizens in Venezuela to flee the country during 2010. The immigration was only exacerbated when oil prices dropped in 2014 leading oil exports to fail, and completely decimating the economy. After this economic shock the Venezuelan economy was never able to recover, and it has contracted over 65% since 2014 the largest contraction outside of war from the past 50 years. This economic contraction has led to the quaruplement of the undernourishment rate, putting over 300,000 people at high risk due to lack of food and medical supplies and facilities. Venezuela is quickly becoming a failed state where extended shortages of water and electricity have become the norm, and generalized violence—often carried out with the complicity of government security forces—makes the country one of the most violent in the world.With the Venezuelan migrant Crisis reaching such large numbers, one would assume that the UN and various other countries would try to help. In actuality, the Venezuelan migrant crisis is the most underfunded immigration crisis in history. The lack of funding has led many Venezuela’s neighbors to close their borders such as Ecuador, Chile, and Peru. In addition many migrants are facing violence from various criminals and drug-traffickers while trying to cross the border through undocumented forest paths. Without funding the Venezuelan people and the neighboring countries have been left with an enormous burden, that will not improve any time soon. All in all, the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis is only growing under the current conditions that Venezuela is under, and without any funding the situation will only get exponentially .