Dozens of Venezuelans in Peru seek to return home despite the crisis

LIMA (Reuters) – Dozens of Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-stricken country in Peru are seeking an offer from Caracas to take them home, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro taking over the difficulties migrants face .

A hundred Venezuelans queued outside the Venezuelan Embassy in Lima on Wednesday for "repatriation cards" needed for a free return flight, according to a Reuters witness.

Several Venezuelans in the line that Reuters spoke of said they suffered discrimination and poor working conditions in Peru, an Andean country of 32 million inhabitants where some 300,000 Venezuelan migrants migrated this year alone.

The massive exodus of Venezuelan migrants in recent years – considered the largest outward movement in Latin America's modern history – has strained public services, saturated informal labor markets and fueled tensions. in the host countries.

Endri Avendano, a Venezuelan migrant, a 30-year-old former medical technician, said that he had become a waiter by selling food on the street upon his arrival in Lima in May.

"You have to work more than eight hours, sometimes 12 hours" a day, said Avendano, adding that he could no longer find work. He was looking to return to Venezuela even though food was scarce and expensive, he said.

Maduro denied that its citizens are fleeing to escape the food and medical shortage in Venezuela. He said Monday that opposition street protests and US financial sanctions had led some Venezuelans to "try their luck" in other countries, but most now regret doing so.

Oscar Perez, a former opposition lawmaker in Venezuela who now lives in Peru and advocates for Venezuelan migrants, described the repatriations as Maduro's "new show" aimed at discrediting his regional critics.

"It's a perverse plan. Maduro offers jobs in public administration, repatriation cards, social assistance for those who support it, "said Perez.

Maduro said Wednesday that a plane carrying Venezuelans seeking to return from Quito had already arrived in Caracas, and that another was due to arrive shortly in Lima.

A group of 89 Venezuelans returned from Lima last week, Maduro said.

The exodus of Venezuelans to South American countries ends with a "moment of crisis" comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the United Nations said last month.

Some 2.3 million Venezuelans live abroad and more than 1.6 million have left since 2015, according to the US.