BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) – Colombia said on Monday that it will register hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants and refugees who are currently in the country undocumented, in an attempt to provide them with legal residence permits and facilitate their access to health care. and legal employment opportunities.
President Ivan Duque said that through a new temporary protection statute, Venezuelan migrants who are in the country illegally will be entitled to a 10-year residence permit, while migrants who are currently in temporary residence will be able to extend their stay.
The new measure could benefit up to one million Venezuelan citizens currently living in Colombia without the proper documents, as well as hundreds of thousands who need to extend temporary visas.
President Duque announced the protection measure at an imposing government palace in Bogotá, while he stood beside Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
“As we take this historic and transcendental step for Latin America, we hope that other countries will follow our example,” said Duque in a room full of ambassadors and diplomats, who were invited to witness the announcement.
Grandi said the new policy would improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor people and called it an “extraordinary gesture” of humanity, pragmatism and a commitment to human rights.
The Colombian government estimates that 1.8 million Venezuelans currently live in the country and that 55% of them do not have the proper residence documents. Most have arrived since 2015 to escape hyperinflation, food shortages and an increasingly authoritarian government.
Duque said that registering these undocumented migrants and refugees would benefit Colombian security agencies and also make the provision of social services, including coronavirus vaccines, more efficient.
The government said Venezuelans legally arriving in Colombia in the next two years could also apply for temporary protection.
The new policy comes after Donald Trump signed an executive order in the last days of his presidency that suspended the deportations of tens of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States.
Colombia’s new temporary protection statute will be implemented when migrants leaving Venezuela find it more difficult to settle in other countries in South America, due to the closure of land borders and growing anti-immigrant sentiment.
In Ecuador, hundreds of Venezuelans are currently being held along the country’s southern border following Peru’s decision to send tanks and troops to the area to prevent illegal border crossings.
Other popular destinations for Venezuelan migrants include Panama and Chile, which have imposed visa requirements that make it more difficult for Venezuelans to move to these countries.
According to the United Nations, there are 4.7 million Venezuelan migrants and other refugees in other Latin American countries after fleeing the economic collapse and political division in their homeland. Colombia is home to more than a third of them.
Duque said that while Colombia’s decision will provide some relief, he does not expect the Venezuelan exodus to stop.
“If we want to stop this crisis, countries need to reflect on how to end the dictatorship in Venezuela,” he said. “We have to think about how to establish a transitional government and organize free elections.”