Ecuador: in Quito, in the daily life of Venezuelan migrants
Audio 01:14
A group of Venezuelan migrants arrive in Quito after a bus trip.
(Drawing).
August 22, 2018. AFP - RODRIGO BUENDIA
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Between 400,000 and 500,000 Venezuelans have found refuge in Ecuador.
This is less than in Colombia (1.5 million) or Peru (1 million) but the figures should be taken with caution.
Some left when the pandemic left them unemployed, but many have returned.
How much, we do not know because Ecuador maintains its border closed with Colombia.
Suddenly, all the migrants cross illegally and their number is not known.
RFI found some of them in the streets of Quito.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in Ecuador
,
Eric Samson
Javier Herrera is only 24 years old but has already spent three as a migrant in Ecuador where he worked as a carpenter and then a nightclub bouncer.
The pandemic has sent him back to the streets of Quito where he cleans the windows of passing cars.
"
The one who lives well is the one who has access to the dollar
"
Chilled in the cold in this rainy June, he struggles because his family in Venezuela needs money.
“
My family tells me that the situation is a little better.
Before, even if we had money, there was nothing to buy.
Today there is food in the stores but it is expensive.
The one who lives well is the one who has access to the dollar
”.
Luis Daniel found him a stable job at a local university.
His father is a farmer, his mother, a teacher, earns the equivalent of two euros a month, but he has found a way to help them without having to send them money directly.
“From Ecuador, I am a supermarket on Instagram and I do virtual shopping for my parents who are in Valencia.
This month I spent $ 180 on full races that will last a month.
I don't have to send the money to my father, I pay the suppliers directly with Paypal
”.
Virtual economy
In a Venezuela where the dollar and the Colombian peso unofficially reign, a virtual economy, which migrants supply directly from their cellphones, has therefore been set up.
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To read also: Ecuador: Guillermo Lasso invested president of a country in crisis
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Venezuela
Ecuador
International Migration
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