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Venezuelan migrants rest on the Cucuta road in Pamplona, Colombia, in September 2018. SCHNEYDER MENDOZA / AFP
More than one million Venezuelans have emigrated to Colombia, 750,000 in the first nine months of 2018 according to the Colombian authorities. Venezuelans are fleeing the economic crisis of their country, hyperinflation, shortages and the economic situation blocked. The World Bank has released a report on Friday, November 2, on this massive migration crisis in Latin America.
With our correspondent in Bogotá, Marie-Eve Detoeuf
Venezuelan migrants arrive by the thousands every day. Colombia must provide them with emergency assistance, health, education, housing and employment. A gigantic challenge for a country where public services are precarious. The World Bank report recalls it. But the multilateral body is optimistic.
" Managing tensions between migrant communities and the communities that host them presents many challenges," said Vice President Jorge Familiar. But if we know how to deal with them, these challenges, the situation is medium and long-term bearer of opportunities, development and growth. "
Call for help
In the short term, Colombia will need to devote nearly half a point of its gross domestic product to migrants. President Ivan Duque is seeking financial and political support from the international community.
" The crisis will continue as long as its original cause remains in place, namely the dictatorship in Venezuela. And the international community must mobilize all the multilateral diplomatic and political resources at its disposal to isolate and end this dictatorship. "
A challenge of more.