Throughout the region, during the first four months of 2022, 279 deaths and disappearances of migrants on migratory journeys were reported. For the same period of 2021 there were 356. This according to data from the Missing Migrants Project, IOM Global Migration Data Analysis Center
david smolanskycommissioner of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the Venezuelan migration crisis, reported that during this year there were 71 deaths in transit of migrants from Venezuela.
Most of them occurred in the Darién jungle, the dangerous border crossing that connects Colombia with Panama, with a total of 21 deaths, according to the report published on the official Twitter account of the official, who did not indicate whether there were children. included in the figure.
Another 18 nationals died on the routes of Central America and Mexico, which they generally take to reach the United States, whose government, at the beginning of October 2022, reversed its immigration policy by giving the green light to the immediate deportation of Venezuelans. who enter that territory irregularly through the southern border.
Also in that stretch of the north, exactly in the Rio Grande, which leads to the United States —where in the last fiscal year it is estimated that immigration agents recorded 180,000 encounters with citizens from Venezuela— 13 compatriots drowned.
Meanwhile, 14 more people drowned or were killed on routes in the Caribbean Sea and five on those in South America.
«Of the 71 Venezuelan people who died on migratory routes throughout the continent trying to flee the dictatorship, 44 were men and 27 women. In addition, seven were minors and three were elderly. We managed to identify the names of 68 of the deceased,” Smolansky wrote.
The commissioner highlighted that among the deceased children is Yaelvys Santoyo, who at the age of 16 was shot by a Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard officer in the midst of the darkness that camouflaged the boat in which her mother was trying to reach the island, along with their other two-year-old daughter, who, fortunately, escaped unharmed.
“Unfortunately, another tragic year for Venezuelan refugees is about to end,” Smolansky said.
Numbers from the Fé y Alegría Panamá Migration Service, for example, suggest that the number of Venezuelan migrant children killed in Darién is even higher. “Officially we know of two cases (of dead Venezuelan children). But unofficially they are more. The estimate is between four to 10 Venezuelan children who died in 2022. It is not published data, but it can be objectively verified,” she told SuchWhich in november this year Elias Andres Cornejocoordinator of that department.
Among the Venezuelans who died on migratory routes this year is Yaelvis Santoyo. A one-year-old baby who was shot by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard. Also Yulvis Caridad, 6 years old, attacked by armed groups in El Darién.
—David Smolansky (@dsmolansky) December 28, 2022
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), on several occasions, has called on the world’s governments to make safe migration a priority, keeping children and adolescents among the group that should receive more attention. during the migratory routes.
Throughout the region, during the first four months of 2022, 279 deaths and disappearances of migrants on migratory journeys were reported. For the same period in 2021 there were 356.
Although much of the data on deceased and missing persons is not yet disaggregated by sex, the available data covers 60% of the reported cases for 2021 and 2022. 22% were women and 78% men. 5% of the victims were boys and girls under 18 years of age.
In SuchWhich a was published work with specific data about minors who died in migratory journeys this year. Click here for more information about it.
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