All Venezuelans that are staying in Ecuador, must register for a census

The authorities analyze the possibility of working with organizations to summon Venezuelan citizens to a census.

This project will begin on October 26, 2019, throughout the country. The Foreign Ministry and the World Migration Organization (IOM) will be responsible for this work, which will collect information online.

CREO’s alternate assemblyman Juan Fernando Flores, who is also Venezuelan, explained that participation in the census is mandatory. “The intention is for every Venezuelan citizen to register on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The questions will be related to their current situation, which will help to have clarity in the elaboration of public policies, ”said Flores.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, from May 2017 to July 2019, 1,673,980 Venezuelans have entered Ecuador.

Of these, 341,561 still remain in this country. However, only 110,000 have their documents in order and 231,561 reside in Ecuador irregularly and in a situation of vulnerability. According to the records of the Ministry of Labor, there are 28,464 labor contracts in force in companies for foreigners. Of these, 13,132 are for Venezuelan workers.

But how will they access populations with limited resources that do not have the internet to comply with the mandate of Executive Decree 826, which sets the requirements for citizens of this nationality who wish to enter the country? Venezuelan communities organize to get closer to their most unprotected countrymen.

One of them is the Venezuelan group in Ecuador, which has a Facebook followers page with the same name.

They will work in brigades to reach settlements of poorer migrant compatriots. Andrew Castro, the representative of the Venezuelan Foundation “Mueve”, stressed that even the Foreign Ministry authorities do not report on the logistics of the census.

“We have already collaborated with the Red Cross, with the UN Refugee Agency and we worked in Ecuador for three years” Castro stressed that about 40% of Venezuelans in the country are in Guayaquil.

He warned that the number of his nationals is variable because they always mobilize, especially to the capital and other border cities of Ecuador.

The alternate legislator Flores explained that to facilitate registration, free internet connection points for Venezuelan migrants will be sought.

The Government established that the census will last until March 31, 2020, to reach migrants who are in remote parts of the country.

The country’s vice-chancellor, Andrés Terán, said in an interview with this newspaper that the census of Venezuelans will cost $ 4 million. With the census, humanitarian visas will be granted and immigration fines will be waived.

Source: El Telégrafo