Things seem to have calmed down on the migration front a bit but before we get too excited let’s take a look at a couple of articles. Translating Cuba had this headline, “With The Approval Of 4,700 Cubans And 26,000 Venezuelans Mayorcas Points Out The Success Of The ‘Parole’ Program For Migrants”

 US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorcas, said the program, basically a two-year temporary ‘parole’ for legal migrants, has brought down the “irregular arrivals” (I think that means illegal migrants) by 90%.

 What he didn’t say was that the ‘parole’ program was created when his department was forced into actually turning migrants away (enforcing the law). Prior to that illegal migrants were processed, given an order to report to a court hearing , usually in 6-12 months, and released.

 Now most illegal migrants attempt to evade border officials whereas before they would walk right up to them so the 90% drop is a bit misleading. There are still a lot of illegal entries, they just don’t walk right up to border agents and claim asylum. Oh, and with the decline in Cubans and Venezuelans they have been replaced by Mexicans and Central Americans who have historically dominated encounters at the US southern border. Under the Biden administration and Secretary Mayorcas over 5 million migrants have entered the country illegally.

 Then we have an item from IOM – UN Migration. A few weeks ago we did a Venezuela : Down The Rabbit Hole segment “Voting With Their Feet” on Venezuela migration, now the largest in the world at 7.1 million and counting. We talked about the transition from the earlier migrants, who fled Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism primarily by plane, to the middle group, who fled primarily in cars and buses, to the current group, the “caminantes” (walkers), who are leaving on foot since most can’t afford bus fare on the under $10 A MONTH minimum wage.

 We in the US get some news about the situation at the US/Mexico border (mostly from Fox News) but Latin America is flooded with Venezuelans everywhere. Here are the latest numbers of Venezuelan migrants by country from IOM :

 Colombia – 2.48 million

 Peru – 1.49 million

 Ecuador – 502,200

 Chile – 444,400

 Brazil – 388,100

 Argentina – 171,000

 Panama – 146,000

 Dominican Republic – 115,300

 Mexico – 87,200

 Trinidad & Tobago – 35,300

 Costa Rica – 30,100

 Uruguay – 23,400

 And another 5 countries with 6,000 – 20,000

 Note : Some of the Caribbean island nations have over 15% of their total population represented by Venezuelan migrants.

 Some of these “caminantes” travel as far as 5,000 kilometers on foot with their journeys taking them over freezing mountain ranges, treacherous jungles, high deserts, and so on, just to escape the regime of Nicolas Maduro and the exodus isn’t stopping anytime soon. It goes on…and on… At some point it has to stop, with Venezuela having already lost over 20% of it’s population…doesn’t it?

 It’s also worth noting, as we said in “Voting With Their Feet”, that many of these countries being overwhelmed by Venezuelan migrants originally had open borders and criticized the US for not having an open border policy. They don’t think that now and many have instituted restrictions and deportations. Even with many of the options previously open to Venezuelans to flee 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism now closed, they still continue to leave.

 Then we have a revealing article from Eurasia Review. The Chinese government is seeking lucrative opportunities to achieve it’s economic interest in…wait for it … Guyana!

 The Chinese government is cooperating with Guyana on hydro-power, road and bridge projects, and has a 25% stake in Guyana’s Stabrock oil field. Guyana is also inviting China to bid on upcoming blocks for oil development.

 We here at TFT view this as another example showing nobody with any experience in dealing with the Maduro regime wants to do business with the inept, corrupt Chavistas in Venezuela. How else do you explain the fact that Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and yet the Chinese are looking to invest in tiny little Guyana but not in Venezuela?

 China is still trying to recoup losses from it’s investments in Venezuela over the more than two decades of Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism. The Iranians (The Chavistas new BFFs) will have to learn the hard way what happens when you partner with the Chavistas. We’ve said it before, if the Chinese couldn’t make a go of it what chance do the Iranians have?

 And speaking of the Iranians, Reuters reports that PDVSA (Venezuela government-owned oil company) and NIORDC (National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company) will start a 100-day revamp of Venezuela’s largest refining complex in the coming weeks.

 The joint effort seeks to restore the crude distillation capacity at Paraguana Refining Center and is looking to end Venezuela’s reliance on US refinery technology. (Why use the best when you can settle for less?) Another joint project between the two companies (countries), repairs at Venezuela’s smallest refinery, El Palito, is currently underway. We’ll have to see how these projects progress amid the constant fires, mechanical breakdowns, oil spills, and other problems that are an almost daily occurrence in Venezuela.

 More tomorrow….