A person with a backpack with the Venezuelan flag colors approaches a UNHCR tent. Photo: Fernanda Pineda/Amnesty International.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro considers that lifting the economic blockade on Venezuela is the solution to the Venezuelan migration issue. He also pointed out that former Colombian president Iván Duque helped Washington tighten the blockade.
“What caused Venezuelan migration by the millions is the economic blockade and the Colombian government helped it. It became a real boomerang,” wrote President Petro this Saturday, February 17, responding to a social media post.
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“They blocked the international sale of oil and that is what Venezuelan society lived on. Immediate impoverishment produced migration. Their women and young people were humiliated in our countries and now migrants are marching by the millions towards the United States,” explained the Colombian leader.
President Petro highlighted the role that Donald Trump and his Colombian junior partner Iván Duque played from the Colombia’s presidency to promote Venezuelan migration as a consequence of the economic blockade via illegal sanctions.
“The deeply mistaken policy of Duque and Trump created a new actor of violence that explodes in all societies in America. It is time for a policy change,” added Petro.
Lo que produjo la migración venezolana por millones se llama bloqueo económico y un gobierno colombiano ayudó a hacerlo. Se convirtió en un verdadero "boomerang".
Bloquearon la venta internacional de petroleo y de eso vivía la sociedad venezolana.
El empobrecimiento inmediato… https://t.co/P4LYjPQ2Qi
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 17, 2024
He also noted the importance of stability of Venezuelans for Colombia and its people, “Colombia is interested in Venezuelan society living in peace, in deep democracy and once again having economic and social well-being.”
For President Gustavo Petro, the solution to Venezuelan migration is the lifting of the economic blockade: “That is why the blockade must be lifted and there must be free elections. We will open public universities free of charge to Colombian and Venezuelan youth residing in Colombia. I expect financial help from the US government to sustain this program. This and not [military] battalions on the border is the best method to contain the exodus” he explained.
(Últimas Noticias) by Harim Rodriguez with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/DZ
