- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
TEHRAN, August 30 - Thousands of Venezuelans are clamoring to return home to recession, hyperinflation and a collapsing economy, President Nicolas Maduro's government claimed on Wednesday as Brazil sends troops to the border with its crisis-ridden neighbor.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - A day after Maduro told the hundreds of thousands of his compatriots who have already fled the region's worst economic crisis in recent memory "to return from economic slavery: stop cleaning toilets abroad and come back to live in your homeland," Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez claimed many are trying to do exactly that.
Rodriguez said Venezuelan embassies around the world are inundated with requests from citizens to return home, but that the government "cannot publicize it until it's happening in real time" for fear of "retaliation against those Venezuelans seeking repatriation."
According to the United Nations, some 1.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015, with the numbers accelerating all the time.
On Monday, Venezuela chartered an airplane to bring 89 citizens back home from Peru, where Maduro said they had suffered "racism, contempt, economic persecution and slavery."
Peru recently tightened its border controls, requiring Venezuelans fleeing poverty and an economic meltdown to show a passport to enter after saying that more than 400,000 were already living in the country.
Rodriguez singled out Peru, Ecuador and Colombia for special criticism as countries where Venezuelans have been the victims of "xenophobia and hate crimes."
And he said Venezuela would petition the UN Refugee Agency to demand a response from Lima, Quito and Bogota.
He made no mention of Brazil, though, which is sending troops to its border following a violent attack by locals earlier this month that drove 1,200 migrants back into Venezuela.
Source: AFP
Your Comment