Government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela legalizes 90,000 undocumented Peruvian immigrants

The government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela will provide with legal immigration documents to more than 90,000 Peruvian immigrants living undocumented in that country.

Presidents Humala and Chavez. Photo Presidencia de Venezuela

This decision is part of the agreements signed during the first official visit of Peruvian president Ollanta Humala to Venezuela, last Saturday January 7, 2012, and it was announced yesterday by president Humala in Lima.

This historical action shows not only the good will of president Hugo Chavez to help the poorest sectors of Venezuelan society, but it also sends a strong message to other countries facing political and economic crisis due to illegal immigration such as the United States, where some 12 million undocumented immigrants live in the shadows.

Peruvians in Venezuela

The Peruvian community in Venezuela is the fourth largest of the Peruvian Diaspora, after the United States, Spain and Argentina. Unfortunately no one knows exactly how many Peruvians live in Venezuela, as most of them lack of legal immigration documents.

Today I spoke by telephone with Peruvian deputy Consul in Caracas Sergio Avila, who says there are between 100,000 to 150,000 Peruvians in Venezuela but only 37,000 of them are registered at the Consulate of Peru.

However, in an interview with a Venezuelan state TV, two Venezuelan Peruvian journalists say there are about 500,000 Peruvians living in Venezuela, and about 28,700 are eligible to vote.

The latter data is confirmed by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) of the Peruvian State, which says on its website that 28,767 Peruvians were registered to vote in the recent Presidential elections of 2011.

The majority of Peruvians who have migrated to Venezuela in recent years are from the poor and working classes, many of rural origins. This contrasts with the migration of middle-class Peruvians in the 1970 and 1980 decades during the oil boom in Venezuela and the nationalist government of Juan Velasco Alvarado in Peru.

About 10% of Peruvians live abroad, and Peru's economic growth in recent years which is based on exports of raw natural resources and services, has only benefited a minority of the population. The current lack of decent employment opportunities, quality education, basic housing, social conflicts, urban violence, corruption and the centralism of Lima are forcing the poorest Peruvians to continue migrating to other countries.

This legalization of Peruvians in Venezuela ratifies the principles stated on December 4, 2012, at the inaugural Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean (CELAC), where its 32 member countries signed a Special Communiqué on the Situation of Human Rights of Migrants, which demands respect for the rights of immigrants across the Americas.

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