Understanding the Venezuelan immigration reality:

a sum of systemic, complex and deep crises.

 

JORGE ELIECER DÍAZ FORERO [*]

November 06, 2023

Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico.

jorgediaz.ve@uaz.edu.mx / jorgediaz.ve@gmail.com

 

 

Summary

 

It is pertinent to clarify that the destroyed Venezuelan economy is not the main cause of migration from that country. Furthermore, it is mandatory to understand that root causes must be correlated as part of a serious analysis. What does this mean? That understanding the phenomenon of Forced Migration (MF) requires diverse perspectives. It is a complex phenomenon, it is in a certain sense: polyhedral. There is no single factor. This article focuses on the following dimensions: 1. Political and economic: from the Productive Matrix (MP), 2. The Social: from the Welfare State (EB) and 3. Human Rights: as a Humanitarian Conflict (CH). This is a theoretical-documentary type of research. Its structure is basically: introduction, development, analysis of the categories indicated above, and conclusions. The delimitation and scope of this work covers only three dimensions of this reality, understood as causes of origin. The objective was to analyze the deep, still underlying causes and triggers of recent Venezuelan migration. The investigative method consisted of making a dissertation of an ontological and epistemic nature. It is a reflection from hermeneutic (interpretive) discursivity based on the interrelation and correlation of the indicated categories. It is concluded that the Venezuelan mono-productive rentier model generated a vulnerable MP, which made an EB unsustainable that deteriorated along with the decline in income from oil sales. Which impacted and led to a structural and systemic crisis; called “Humanitarian Crisis” (CH). Thus, the need to leave Venezuela in the midst of this context is justified!

 

Keywords: 21st Century Socialism (SS21), Productive Matrix (MP), Welfare State (EB), Humanitarian Conflict (CH), Forced Migration (MF).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[*] Doctor in Development Studies (UAZ, Zacatecas, Mexico, 2016-2020). Specialized in Migration and Development. And doctor in Educational Sciences (UPEL_Vzla_2009-2014). Specialized in ICT's.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

What would be the fundamental, deep, underlying and triggering causes of this human stampede from Venezuela to the world and the region? How are the categories Productive Matrix, Welfare State, Humanitarian Conflict and Forced Migration intertwined?

The following theoretical analysis will allow us to answer this initial question.

Therefore, it is essential to limit, clarify and specify, before the theoretical approach, the following assumptions and starting premises:

 As indicated in the initial summary, this is a documentary-type investigation.

 The method is based on a descriptive, critical and above all hermeneutical discursive analysis.

 The epistemic limitation (in scope and content) leads us to understand the phenomenon of human migrations as complex and multidisciplinary. Addressing now, only 3 categories.

 The human migration issue is a socio-demographic event with various aspects.

 The essay will be limited to a look with a political-economic, social and human scope.

 The extractivist historical context of the Venezuelan economy: it has gone from oil-capitalism to oil-socialism.

 According to ZAFRA, J. (2013, p. 1) the Venezuelan mono-productive extractivist economy has had a historical constant: “almost exclusively” it is linked to the sale of oil.

 

In order to delve into answering the trigger question, we first need to answer the following:

1. From the ideological model of 21st Century Socialism, how was macroeconomics approached?

2. How is Venezuela's MP compared to countries in the region?

3. What has characterized the Venezuelan Productive Matrix (MPV)?

4. To what extent has the Welfare State (BE) evolved in the past decades?

5. What happened to the Human Rights of Venezuelans in your country?

6. What would be the fundamental, deep, underlying and triggering causes of this human stampede towards the world, the region and Brazil in particular?

7. How should the Venezuelan migration of the last decade be seen in the world?

 

 

  1. The Political and economic: from the Productive Matrix (MP)

 

Why horizontally relate and link the political issue with the economic issue? What is a Productive Matrix and what can we discern from it? And why approach the economic perspective from the Productive Matrix (MP) of the country?

These questions only serve to stimulate reflection. They will not be answered in any order. Their responses are immersed in the following reflection.

 

1.1. Extractivism and Productive Matrix

 

Extractivism is or is part of a large economic model. There are Productive Matrices that have the primary sector incorporated io in some percentage, some higher than others. The truth is that in the Latin American region, soil and subsoil resources are increasingly being taken (exploited) to promote the “development” of emerging and rich countries.

 

The author G. GALAFASSI & L. RIFFO (2018, p.1) estimate that the history of humanity is associated with a long and continuous process of expropriation. And, unfortunately, it does not stop, due to the development model or paradigm prevailing in the world: Growth at all costs! Understanding that, if a nation's GDP does not increase each year, development stops.

 

Since its independence from Spain, the Venezuelan economy went from exporting hides (or skins), then cocoa, then coffee, and, for 100 years, exclusively: oil and hydrocarbons. The prevailing economic model since then is mono-extractive: anchored to oil; a strategic product in international geo-politics that has become more evident during the recurrent crises in the Middle East and that is now in development.

Venezuela has been an example of bad practices in macroeconomic matters for centuries. Your model is vulnerable. Sustained by the extraction of its natural resources. We basically only live off of oil. And the industrial sector, from decrepit, has become non-existent. The Petrochemical sector is moribund. And the basic industries of the Guayana Region are working with minimal personnel.

 

Taking as reference and example; the above: in 2012 this item represented 87.75% of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Venezuela, said the researcher RUIZ, M. & ITURRALDE, P. (2013, p. 30) - citing the ECLAC as source.

 

1.2. A look at the region's MP.

 

In the Latin American region, the aforementioned case is not unique. The case is very similar to economies such as Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil, which are also oil exporters, but which, in turn, have other agricultural products that they export, such as flowers, bananas, and coffee, among others. What makes these countries economies less dependent on the GDP growth of the dominant economic powers, on conflicts in the Middle East, on economic cycles and stages of depression (recession). The Venezuelan case is that its MP is the most dependent on a single product and is the most vulnerable.

Something curious about these times of “Revolution” is that, in the midst of the boom, the nation fell into debt (with China, Turkey and Russia). Something already seen in the past neoliberal period that lasted from 1958 to 1998. The same thing happening that H. Chávez criticized at the time.

 

1.3. What role did the political vision of 21st Century Socialism play?

 

The truth is that 21st Century Socialism did not make important changes to the macroeconomic model. Despite the fact that the word “revolution” [traditionally understood by political scientists and economists as synonymous with “Structural Change”] was permanently present in the interventions and political rallies of President H. Chávez. This word, by the way, was repeated thousands of times; almost daily, through different media outlets controlled by the state. So along with other words like “Homeland” and “Socialism” they were a cliché for media and propaganda purposes.

 

The truth is that a true Revolution never took place in Venezuela. Chávez was another fraud! Everything was left as is. Minus the state resources that were squandered and misused (in the best of cases) and others were stolen, without even taking care of the forms!

Today, we have a paralyzed, unproductive, incompetent, poor, malnourished, hungry, sick country, without doctors, without teachers, without university professors, without gasoline, with unfinished infrastructure works (bridges, railways and highways) throughout the country. of the country, and with the greatest human rights crisis in its history. So, let's stop thinking that the problem of Venezuelans is only economic. No, this is part of something bigger. And, finally, we link the political with the economic, for the simple reason that they are the ones who have the political power to make and make economic decisions.

Neither H. Chávez nor N. Maduro ever thought that the “little hen that lays the golden eggs” could become seriously ill and even die.

 

2. The Social: from the Welfare State (EB)

 

  From good practices, the paradigm linked to the public policies of the Welfare State (BE) includes opportunities and conditions equally for the entire population of a country. It is also being able to satisfy human physiological needs, security, affiliation, recognition, and self-actualization. What Abraham Maslow hierarchized in his Pyramid of Human Needs (1943) with 5 categories; This is stated by the author GARCÍA-ALLEN, J. (2023, p. 1).

 

The sustainability of the EB is therefore a matter of reflection and analysis for the Venezuelan case, since it is intertwined as the main trigger of Venezuelan migration, a phenomenon without precedent in the region and the country: in form, severity converted into a systemic-humanitarian crisis, intensity and duration of the phenomenon.

 

3. Human Rights: as Humanitarian Conflict (CH).

 

Venezuelans began to migrate from Venezuela since Mr. Hugo Chávez Frías came to power in February 1999. Venezuela, as Brazil does today, had, for decades, an open-door policy to migrants: both Europeans (since 1945 ) and South Americans (since 1970). Certainly, we did not know what surrounded this word: Migrate! And we never assumed or imagined that the country with the highest Latin American per capita income would one day be destroyed. So it is with great sadness that I address that topic! We were a country with a young and highly qualified population. With very low levels of illiteracy.

The universities had professors who graduated from prestigious universities in the world. The “Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Scholarship Program” was wonderful for thousands of professionals, for their families, for the universities and for the country. It has been the best and largest investment that has been made in terms of human capital formation on this continent. They were full scholarships, which included an allowance for their wives (or husbands) and their children, along with medical insurance of 10,000 USD. [The scholarships were 50,000 USD for 5-year courses (Bachelors) and for 4-year doctorates. And tuition and other payments to universities were covered by the same scholarship program.

 

With great happiness I remember that I had graduate professors in Michigan, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Paris, Madrid, The Netherlands, London and others that I don't remember. I came to work with a staff of teachers where the majority had more than a postgraduate degree, and there were already colleagues with a doctorate or in the process of obtaining that degree. We were happy, and we hadn't noticed it! Until the arrival of romantic and backward socialism, with ideologies from the 60s of the 20th century and destroyed everything in its path.

 

So the words migrate, refuge, remittances, protocol, hyperinflation, shortages and finally “Humanitarian Conflict” are new to any Venezuelan born and raised before 2000.

Chávez had bad company. These ideological friends convinced him to “Radicalize the Revolutionary Process.” Especially Commander Fidel Castro, who received Chávez in Havana frequently. He advised him and gave advice on primary care medical services, educational services, and advice on security and control issues, on behalf of “The State.” A well-trained, armed group with motorcycles was created. They are “The Collectives”. They have been doing the “dirty work” of controlling and managing social conflicts: demonstrations and protests.

 

  At the time, it was up to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Michelle Bachelet (MB), to address the issue of “Human Rights” in Venezuela. Before the written report presented to the UN Plenary, Ms. MB requested President N. Maduro to appoint an investigative commission. The arrival of this working group was postponed for several months.

When we arrived in Venezuela, the UN technicians did field work and interviewed hundreds of people. They managed to support the report, which was first read in a smaller meeting, and then days later it was reread and distributed in writing to the members of the UN plenary room. Thus it was catapulted and recorded that the biggest and most important problem in Venezuela is the Humanitarian Conflict. A taxonomy of greater specific weight than the economic. So, on March 20, 2019, the UN published the “Oral Report” offered by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. From which we can highlight the following:

 

1. The exercise of social and economic rights has continued to deteriorate continuously.

2. Children, pregnant women, the elderly and indigenous people have been especially affected. …

3. The authorities have refused to recognize the dimensions and severity of the crisis in terms of medical care, food and basic services,…

4. The recent interruption... of the electrical flow that has affected the entire country has aggravated this situation... it has affected hospitals... the number of victims is still unknown.

5. Growing food shortages and rising food prices "have resulted in fewer foods with less nutritional value, high rates of malnutrition, and a particularly adverse impact on women, some of whom reported that "On average, they spent 10 hours a day in lines to buy food."

6. The shortage of water and natural gas and the collapse of transportation continues to affect many people. …

7. Hyperinflation generates atrocious conditions,…

8. Numerous human rights violations and abuses perpetrated by security forces and armed groups [of the e state].

9. "There is a strategy aimed at neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing the political opposition"

10. The "gradual militarization of State institutions during the last decade." -. Furthermore, "both civil and military forces are held responsible for arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment and torture of critics of the Government and their families, sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated during periods of detention and visits, and excessive use of of force during demonstrations".

11. "The health situation in the country is serious: hospitals lack staff, supplies, medicines and electricity to keep the equipment running."

 

 

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

 

 

With the following conclusions we are sure to be able to answer the final research question: What would be the fundamental, deep, underlying and triggering causes of this human stampede towards the world and the region?

 

And, the answer would be this:

 

 The Venezuelan economy has traditionally been mono-extractive, since its independence from Spain. Since then, the Venezuelan economy went from exporting leather, then cocoa, then coffee and, finally, for about 100 years, oil. Therefore, it is an economy subject to, or anchored to, basically a product (oil) that represented (for the year 2012) 87.75% of its annual income, according to RUIZ, M. & ITURRALDE, P (2013, p. 30) citing ECLAC.

 

 The unsustainability of the EB in the Venezuela case damaged the performance of the state-government, and together with other mitigating factors, contributed to the development of the triggering causes of the migratory waves that characterize this century.

 

 Therefore, the underlying causes of Venezuelan migration are due to the fact that the MP of 21st century Venezuela contributed to the wear and tear and collapse of a fragile economy in many ways. The unsustainability of the EB damaged the performance of the state, and together with other mitigating factors, contributed to the development of the causes given for the forced departure of Venezuelans. From there, it is understood that the displacement is equal to an inefficient and inadequate MP, which has not been able to sustain an EB over time. Which allowed the deep causes of this Latin American socio-demographic phenomenon of Venezuelan Forced Migration (MFV) to emerge.

 

 And as if we were to solve an equation, it turns out that: human displacement from Venezuela is equal to retrograde public policies inspired by Marxist ideologies that led to scaring away national and international investment [since these were the first to leave the country] in addition , an inefficient and inadequate MP, which could not sustain the EB and quality of life of the ordinary citizen over time, thus emerging what we have called “the deep, underlying and triggering causes” of this socio-demographic phenomenon. on going. And growing!

 

Recommendations on public policies

 

 There is still a lot to do in terms of economic diversification

 We must keep in mind USLAR-PIETRIA, A (1936) and PREBISCH, R. (ECLAC)

[Please see details of these references in the bibliography of this article]

 Extraordinary income must be invested to “Sow the Oil”.

 It is necessary to develop public policies that contribute to the comprehensive development of Venezuela, from oil as a support point.

 The enormous oil reserves must be used to de-construct a PM model and at the same time redesign a new one, which allows economic and, consequently, social, educational, health and security sustainability. Making EB possible for the coming years.

 This would require establishing “an oil frontier” as indicated by RUIZ, M. (2013:129).

 And Industrialization would allow non-extractive, more varied exports.

 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

ECLAC (Web Portal). Raúl Prebisch (1901-1986).

          Available: https://www.cepal.org/es/equipo/raul-prebisch. [Consultation: Oct 10, 2023]

 

DÍAZ-FORERO, J. (2020) Venezuelans in Guanajuato: An emerging paradigm of

         Forced Migration (2013-2019). (Doctoral Thesis). PhD in Studies

             Development, Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico (August 2020).

 

G. GALAFASSI & L. RIFFO (2018, p.1). From the dream of Christopher Columbus to today called “extractivism”. Vicissitudes and vicissitudes of a long and continuous process of expropriation for accumulation: a necessary critical discussion.

               Available: http://revista-theomai.unq.edu.ar/NUMERO_38/15_Galafassi-Riffo_Theo-38.pdf

               [Consultation: Oct 12, 2023]

 

RUIZ, M. & ITURRALDE, P. (2013) Rent it to me from wealth. Edit Center

         economic and social rights, Quito, Ecuador. (Not available in digital format)

 

USLAR-PIETRI, A. (1936) Sowing the oil. Originally published on July 14, 1936, in the Venezuelan newspaper “Caraqueño Ahora”. At: https://digopalabratxt.com/2017/05/16/sembrar-el-petroleo-por-a rturo-uslar-pietri-caracas-1906-2001/. [Consultation: 01 Nov 2021]

 

ZAFRA, J. (2013) A Story Told Several Times.

             At: http://www.vidaen360grados.com/2013/04/venezuela-economia-monoproductora/

              [Consultation: 03 Nov 2022]

 

GARCÍA-ALLEN, J (2023, P 1) Maslow's Pyramid: the hierarchy of human needs.

                 Analyzing one of the most famous theoretical artifacts: the hierarchy of needs.

                 THEOMAI Magazine. Available at: https://psicologiaymente.com/psicologia/piramide-de-maslow

                 [Consultation: 03 Nov 2023]

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

“When people migrate, their rulers are superfluous”

Jose Marti.