(Psst: The FTC wants me to remind you that this website contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase from a link you click on, I might receive a small commission. This does not increase the price you’ll pay for that item nor does it decrease the awesomeness of the item. ~ Daisy)
By Daniela Gonzalez
With the last recent events at the US border and the approach of the authorities’ response (not the ones of the States being affected, but the highest ones), anyone with some degree of common sense would start to ask questions.
How are migrants from Venezuela getting from their country to the US border? Are they walking? if so, how long does it take and how are they equipped for it? If not, how are they getting there? Are they criminals? Are they crossing other borders legally? Is someone funding this?
As a Venezuelan, I hope to answer some of these questions for you.
How do Venezuelans travel to the southern US border?
You may already be aware of the dangerous Darien jungle crossing. It’s a remote area in Panama with no road through it. There is no way to know how many people have perished there. People die not only because the jungle is already a very dangerous place for the untrained. It’s the gangs taking advantage of whomever they find. There are enough horror stories in the media to traumatize anyone for life.
Just as general information: previous to this nightmare of a walk, there were enough borders to cross that is not so easy to go through, even for a regular citizen. However, for some reason, hordes of people carrying suitcases and all sorts of bags just walk through. There are eight (yes, EIGHT) countries to cross by foot to reach the Southern Border of the US. How someone without money can do it, is an unnerving question.
And a much more unnerving one is how criminals do it.
The first leg is over 500 miles (+800km) from Caracas, Venezuela to Cucuta, Colombia. This leg is relatively easy because it is a very beaten path with plenty of bus services.
From Cucuta, the next leg is going to Necocli, Colombia, covering a similar distance. This is a coastal town. They can reach from there to several points at the coastline. From there, the crossing is by foot until the Southern Border through Panama, Honduras, and Mexico.
This is one of the paths they follow, like many migrants trying to cross.
The story of this handicapped migrant is something different. He and his family spent $7000 on the whole journey. How someone decides to use that amount of money to cross one of the most dangerous areas in South America is beyond my common sense.
That money could get someone a small hacienda to live in and have basic needs covered, including a vehicle.
The journey is incredibly dangerous for many reasons.
Another example I cannot understand is the one depicted by this Army defector and his family. Their gear consisted of a camping tent, boots, repellant, and $5000, a product for the sale of their belongings. I haven’t seen that wad of cash that size in my whole life, to be honest. Mentioning the wife that if the bandits kidnap their child, she will be very likely missing, and can’t avoid her being assaulted…
Really? Who is willing to take that risk?
Sure, coming back means a certain death in the regime’s dungeons, but at least Colombia or some other neighboring country offered that couple some sort of stability.
Other people travel with camping stoves and some small light gas canisters. Canned goods, pasta, and rice are usual staples, too. No bottled water because it’s heavy. Most people drink from the rivers. There are no such things as filtering devices, and I haven’t heard of anyone boiling water.
It is terrifying to read things like the plans of people willing to spend the night at the foot of the most dangerous mountain to climb…only to discover that the stench of the rotting bodies was too much to stay there for too long. That’s a nightmare-like situation.
I wasn’t going to write about the HIV-infected gangs, but I reconsidered it to tell the whole entire story. (Warning! the link contains references to sexual violence)
The readers must understand human behavior when there are no consequences or law enforcement forces nearby. And this is the XXI Century. Extrapolate that behavior pattern of a crumbled society, and it can (it DID happen) arise wherever. One more reason to arm everyone to the teeth, if you ask me.
Going through that with a small child…thanks, but no thanks. Putting the family’s safety in the hands of strangers? Too much to lose. I find it hard to justify someone with that amount of money to migrate that way.
You can appreciate in the pictures of this article how some people walk even in slippers. With small children, leaving the country through the illegal trochas. Being robbed, harassed, and sometimes even killed.
Though many are, please do note that not every person coming from Venezuela is a criminal.
But every person is desperate.
The people doing this are causing problems in your country.
I see a pattern here: the unreasonably high murder rate increasing and the violent crimes and home invasions that are happening now in the US, in areas traditionally considered low-crime zones.
It is incredible to see this kind of turmoil in a refugee shelter: Illegals attacking officers to avoid an arrest.
And when you realize a pattern like they mention in this article, informing that two cities of the American continent are invaded by the same gang at the same time, is reasonable to start questioning what can be happening.
At the end of this article, there is one of the most significant phrases: ” (…) given the tense relationships between the US and Venezuela…”
How are criminals that should be in Venezuelan prison going to America?
For those of us born in the 80s, the name “Mariel” doesn’t say much. But after a little research, we find out that there is yet another cycle repeating itself: criminals entering massively to the US from a country deeply linked to Eastern foreign powers and with close ties to rogue nations.
If a regular citizen finds difficulties in leaving the country legally through a border (confiscation of little green thingies that uniforms love, for instance), it is hard to understand how criminals that were supposedly in jail in Venezuela end up appearing in places as far as Miami.
My thoughts?
There are two methods a criminal could bypass the safety measures in a border. One, they are impersonating some of their victims of former crimes with stolen IDs.
As sinister as it sounds, finding someone resembling them and using their IDs to get out of Dodge, mixing up with the crowd crossing is not that hard these days. People disappear in Venezuela regularly without any trace. Leaving a few dead doppelgangers behind and taking their IDs shouldn’t be that hard for someone with the scruples to do.
The migration authorities usually don’t have the means to verify fingerprints in these small border towns, and they issue temporary residence or transit-only permits, knowing that they leave the border soon and won’t stay being a nuisance. On the other hand, there is another option to ponder. If the intention of sending criminals is seriously adopted by any government holding a grip on their ID system, it would not be a problem to re-issue a new identity document with a new name, keeping the same fingerprints and any other biometric data. You have had an article about this on your website before.
Who is behind all this?
The next questions are surely what is in the minds of everyone reading this. Is somebody paying for all this? Or organizing it? And if so, why?
To determine the answer, historical data has to be reviewed. This is not anything new and there is already a precedent that many politicians have tried to sweep under the rug: Castro’s threat of the “Plan Bravo” in the middle 1990s. After all, he already had sent close to 8000 convicts camouflaged as “immigrants” at the beginning of the 1980s.
This news seems to be forgotten now: Venezuelan passports were being sold at the embassy in Iraq (there is an English version in this link) and the much more recent detention of Jihad members in Argentina.
I have seen plenty of videos with interviews of people traveling to the US by foot. I have noticed this: most of them are healthy young men in their 20s and physically fit. Not all of them are going to the shelters to avoid being screened by the migration authorities. On the contrary, very possibly they are lying low and integrating into some sort of network already in place.
In one of those interviews, the man commented something that has been in my head ever since. “The US is going to be very different soon”.
Whether he’s a psychic with a crystal ball, or he attended some type of briefing and he’s on a mission. The impact of so many people roaming on the streets may not look too much. But what will happen when (not “if,” but WHEN) the sleepers attend the call to generate turmoil on a country-wide scale?
Sure, many of you will say, “That’s why we have our 2nd Amendment”.
Trust me, you will hardly find someone to shoot at. They won’t engage in direct conflict. Albeit I’m not a military analyst by any means, their target is very likely infrastructure and psyops on the society. Be very vigilant of water reservoirs.
Violent crime, increasing in number and frequency, could start overnight now.
Do you remember the recent 2019 turmoils in Chile? All of it was organized and executed by the leftist wing. These migrants from countries with regimes that are hostile towards the US should be carefully screened. The consequences could be very high in the near future.
More resources
Some additional information can be found in the following links:
What are your thoughts?
What do you think of the information in this article? Is it surprising or to be expected? What about the harrowing journey? Do you have more information to add?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
About Daniela
Daniela Gonzalez is a student of history at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas.