Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) is supporting a project of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Venezuela that addresses issues related to migration, including raising awareness of migration risks and the need for protection, reconciliation between migrants and host communities, as well as providing food aid for teachers in the border states of Zulia, Tachira, and the Capital District.

The project will include workshops on informed and safe mobility, and training on reconciliation and how to address xenophobia and promote reconciliation in host communities. The delivery of food kits to teachers in the states of Táchira, Zulia and the Capital District aims to reduce teacher absenteeism related to food insecurity.

More than 7.7 million people or 20% of the population have left Venezuela since 2014 amid an economic and political crisis that continues today. “This is the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history and one of the largest displacement crises in the world (as of April 2024),” according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The vast majority of Venezuelan migrants, 6.5 million, are hosted by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Many Venezuelans continue to make the treacherous journey to reach the US border, including through the Darien Gap, a tropical jungle between Colombia and Panama. They are exposed to deadly wildlife as well as organized criminal groups who commit sexual violence, murders, robbery, and trafficking, according to the UNHCR.