After the election, Venezuela emigrees still streaming across border

May 19, 2019  23H:13  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Renee Celeste and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, SAN ANTONIO, Venezuela

SAN ANTONIO, Venezuela - Crouched on a sidewalk near Venezuela’s border with Colombia, construction worker Deiver Guarate said Sunday’s presidential election has already been decided in favor of President Nicolas Maduro, and he did not plan to stay around to hear the results.

A Venezuelan National Guard keeps watch next to the Simon Bolivar international bridge in San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela May 16, 2018. Picture taken May 16, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Eduardo Ramirez

Unable to cover even the most basic of expenses amid hyperinflation, Guarate was emigrating to Colombia and had to spend the night on the street as he waited for overwhelmed Venezuelan migration authorities to stamp his passport.

“People aren’t voting anymore because they know that it’s rigged. If we had any hope that this would change, we wouldn’t be migrating,” said Guarate, 35, huddled beside suitcases on a street were several hundred people have been sleeping this week.

“The situation in Venezuela is critical,” said Guarate, whose grandmother died last year of kidney problems because the family was unable to obtain medicine due to drug shortages.

Venezuela’s opposition has called on supporters to sit out Sunday’s vote due to concerns of fraud but tens of thousand of migrants are so skeptical of the election that they prefer to leave.

They are flocking to border towns like San Antonio, where they anxiously push through streets crowded with informal vendors under sweltering sun to escape a country where a monthly minimum wage can at best buy a few pounds of rice.

Maduro challenger Henri Falcon, who is breaking the boycott to face his rival, insists that a massive turnout by discontented Venezuelans would bring about change.

Many among the opposition, however, believe Falcon is legitimizing a rigged process, which governments around the world including the United States and Latin American neighbors have condemned.

People carry their luggage as they walk outside the customs building in San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela May 16, 2018. Picture taken May 16, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Eduardo Ramirez

Maduro, who insists the election is free and fair, has warned migrants they would face difficult circumstances abroad and recently said some are now “cleaning toilets.”

He has said that Venezuela’s situation has been caused by an “economic war” led by U.S.-backed adversaries.

The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

‘WE KNOW WHAT’S COMING’

In April, Maduro launched a program called “Return to the Fatherland” meant to raise money for Venezuelans who sold their possessions to emigrate, then wanted to return.

In San Antonio, migrants carrying tatty bags with their belongings did not believe the government would help them or that the vote represented an opportunity for change.

“The situation is just too difficult. Money doesn’t buy anything,” said Alejandro Lugo, 25, a bodyguard who planned to settle in Colombian capital Bogota.

“On Sunday there are elections. We all know what’s coming. They know the results already,” Lugo said.

The border is closed over the weekend as a security measure during the election, so migrants would have to wait until Monday to cross or cut through dozens of illegal paths.

The United Nations has estimated that 1 million Venezuelans left the country between 2015 and 2017.

Slideshow (12 Images)

Some 13,000 per day leave in search of a new life from the Venezuelan state of Tachira, the most heavily trafficked border crossing state, according to Venezuelan military sources working in the area who asked not to be identified.

Another 50,000 leave and return the same day or shortly after, the sources said.

Emigrees who carry on get their passports stamped, then walk across the Simon Bolivar bridge with suitcases and backpacks to reach Colombia or continue on by bus toward Ecuador or Peru.

The exodus of the last year has put a strain on neighboring Latin American countries, where Venezuelans are routinely seen sleeping on the streets.

Maduro halted vehicle traffic over the bridge three years ago. Sweaty pedestrians now line up in the heat to get through Colombia’s border check point.

Some cross to buy goods that have run short in Venezuela such as diapers or flour, while others smuggle goods to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, one of the few remaining ways to consistently make a living.

“Here your money won’t buy anything, no matter how much you make,” said Wilma Morales, 50, a lawyer, waiting to cross the border on her way to Peru. “For me there are no elections. I’m not going to be legitimizing a dictatorship.”

See graphics on upcoming elections in Latin America tmsnrt.rs/2wSwu9k and in Venezuela tmsnrt.rs/2IWH6ZD

Obama says ‘days of meddling’ in Latin America are past

by Enrique Krause and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Panama City

51 minutes ago

US President Barack Obama has told Latin American leaders that the days when his country could freely interfere in regional affairs are past.

He was speaking just before the seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama City.
Mr Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro shook hands as the opening ceremony began, their first encounter since a December detente.
But their historic formal talks due on Saturday could be overshadowed by tensions between Venezuela and the US.
Mr Obama told a forum of civil society leaders in Panama City that "the days in which our agenda in this hemisphere presumed that the United States could meddle with impunity, those days are past".

Bumpy ride

At past Summits of the Americas, which bring together the leaders of North, Central and South America, the US has come in for criticism for its embargo against Cuba and its objection to having Cuba participate in the gatherings.
This seventh summit is the first which Cuba will attend and much of the attention will be focussed on the body language between the former foes.

Barack Obama and Raul Castro are due to meet again later on Saturday. It will be the first formal encounter between the leaders of the US and Communist-run Cuba in more than five decades.
Before the summit began, the US president stressed that he hoped the thaw in relations would improve the lives of the Cuban people.
"Not because it's imposed by us, the United States, but through the talent and ingenuity and aspiration and the conversation among Cubans, among all walks of life. So they can decide what is the best course of prosperity."
Later, Mr Obama and Mr Castro joined representatives from 35 nations for the summit's inauguration ceremony.
A marching band and children in national dress of the participating countries waved flags as the summit opened to applause.

Analysis: Vanessa Buschschluter, BBC News, Panama City

While Mr Obama name-checked Cuba when he was talking about the US's days of meddling being in the past, the message was equally - if not more so - aimed at Venezuela.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has not only accused the US of meddling but of fomenting a coup against his government.

His open distrust of Mr Obama was only heightened when the US president signed an executive order last month declaring Venezuela a threat the the national security of the US.
US officials have since said the wording was "completely pro-forma" but the damage had been done.
It had not only incensed Mr Maduro but also Latin American leaders sensitive to what they see as US imperialist rhetoric.
The tone of the summit could well hang on whether Mr Obama's latest assurances sway Mr Maduro and his left-wing allies, who form a powerful bloc at the summit.

Mr Obama's speech before the summit came a day after the State Department recommended that Cuba be removed from the US lists of countries which sponsor terrorism.
Its presence on the list has been one of the main hurdles on the way to closer ties between the two countries.
The president said on Thursday that all he was waiting for now was a recommendation from his advisers, leaving many expecting an announcement at the summit.
The smooth progress made between Cuba and the US stands in contrast to the bumpy ride that have been relations between Venezuela and the US over the past months.

The two countries have not exchanged ambassadors for more than six years, but tensions rose last month when the US imposed sanctions on a group of Venezuelan officials it accuses of human rights abuses.
As part of the sanctions, Mr Obama issued an executive order declaring Venezuela a threat to the national security of the United States.
President Maduro has collected more than 10 million signatures demanding its repeal.
Their meeting at the summit, while less historic than the one between Mr Castro and Mr Obama, is drawing as much attention for its unpredictability.
Mr Maduro sent out mixed messages on Friday.

In a clear swipe at the US, he visited a monument to the victims of the 1989 US invasion of Panama just hours after he landed.
But he also said that it was "time nor for imperialism, but for peace".
"We're in a battle of ideas, in a fight so that Venezuela is respected, we're coming here in a constructive spirit, to make history through respect," he said.