Venezuelan official suggests migrant crisis is staged to undermine government

Texto 4:

Venezuelan official suggests migrant crisis is staged to undermine government

Diosdado Cabello implied that photos and news of refugees fleeing through South America on foot are fake as the UN warns the situation is nearing a ‘crisis moment’

Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent

Venezuela’s number two official has suggested his country’s escalating migration crisis – described by the United Nations as one of the worst in Latin American history – is being staged as part of a rightwing ruse to undermine his government.

Speaking at a congress of the ruling United Social party this week, Diosdado Cabello implied that images of Venezuelans fleeing through South America on foot had been manufactured. “It’s as if it was: ‘Lights, camera, action!’ It is a campaign against our country – a campaign of extraordinary dimensions,” Cabello added.

The UN estimates 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2015 with Colombia expecting 2 million more to follow by 2020. That would mean 4.3 million people – 14% of Venezuela’s population – had left. Last week, the UN’s migration agency warned the mass migration is nearing a “crisis moment” comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean. Many of those now heading into neighbouring countries such as Brazil and Colombia are so impoverished they do so on foot.

The UN estimates 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2015 with Colombia expecting 2 million more to follow by 2020. Photograph: Evelin Rosas/EPA

On Tuesday, Venezuelan state media trumpeted the “repatriation” of 89 migrants who had reportedly been flown home from Peru free of charge after suffering exploitation abroad.

Disponível em https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/28/venezuela-diosdado-cabello-refugee-footage-fake. Acessado em 22/10/2018

O jornal The Guardian retrata um problema social vivido, sobretudo, em 2018, pelos venezuelanos. Com base no texto lido, aponte a alternativa que retrata mais adequadamente a posição do governo da Venezuela sobre o assunto: