“Every day, no less than 200 people are taken to the border,” says the president of the Bolivarian Bloc of Transporters of the Caribbean Trunk, Juan Carlos Restrepo, while the director of the Maracaibo land terminal reported that 4,125 people left in August for Maicao. With these figures, Venezuelan migration shows no signs of abating.
Migration does not stop in Venezuela. Hundreds of Venezuelans flee daily from a troubled country, mired in a political and economic crisis that leaves no escape for those who decide to move their lives to other countries.
At least 1,500 people traveled every week during the month of August by land from Zulia to Colombia through the Paraguachón border, where the municipalities of Guajira (Venezuela) and Maicao (Colombia) border. The figure was offered to The Whistle carriers of lines that travel to the Colombian border and are registered at the Maracaibo land terminal.
“4,125 people left the Maracaibo passenger terminal in August for Maicao,” said the station’s director, Rodmar Urdaneta, who specified that the number of passengers was lower than in August 2023, when 1,000 more people left.
There are around 25 public transport lines in Maracaibo that provide service to the border with Colombia. In addition to these, there are private companies that provide passenger transport.
“Every day, no less than 200 people are taken to the border. This is every day, from Monday to Sunday. Most of them leave the country, arrive in Colombia and from there migrate to the United States or Chile,” said the president of the Bolivarian Bloc of Transporters of the Caribbean Trunk Road, Juan Carlos Restrepo. “Every day we take someone who leaves through Darien,” he added.
The Government of Panama recorded that 158,682 Venezuelans crossed the Darien jungle, the common border with Colombia, from January to August 2024. Venezuelans are the largest group of migrants and represent 66% of the total number of people who venture to cross the dangerous jungle.
The driver of a private transport company, who did not identify himself for this report because he fears repression in the country, agreed that migration does not stop and that transfers on his line have also increased due to the restrictions decreed by the government of Nicolás Maduro for flights from Panama and the Dominican Republic.
“There are people who come from other states and leave through the Zulia border because of the air connections. It is cheaper for them to travel to the border and take their flights at the Riohacha airport, which leave full to Bogotá. Most of them leave to migrate,” said the driver.
The carrier said that sometimes there is a queue at the Immigration office at the Paraguachón border for Venezuelans who must take flights. “Those who go by land, who go through Darién, do not stamp their passport because sometimes they leave without anything,” he said.
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José González, a driver for the Maracaibo-Paraguachón line, takes Venezuelan migrants to the Colombian border almost every day. “Most of them tell you: ‘We’re leaving because there’s no life here, no source of work.’ Every morning you see people crying here. I used to cry when I saw people saying goodbye. Not anymore,” he said.
Photo: The Whistle
González said that trips on his line have decreased compared to 2023, when each of the 100 transporters who work for the company traveled 5 times a week to Colombia. Now they travel 2 or 3 times.
“People have not stopped leaving, but the number has dropped a bit now. People are gathering their money, and you will see that in December more people will leave,” he said.
Maracaibo, capital of Zulia state, has seen nearly half a million of its 2.2 million inhabitants migrate, most of them across the border with Colombia. The estimate was published by the media The New York Times in his report Maracaibo, the Venezuelan city most affected by the mass exodusRepresentatives from countries such as Brazil and Colombia predicted months ago that if the political and economic problems in Venezuela are not resolved, the departure of citizens will increase.
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