11.25.18: Chiding

A group of 12 regional nations agreed today to form a united front in order to face the Venezuelan migrant crisis, opening the door to better coordination and service delivery to those fleeing misery and hunger in Venezuela.

The agreement comes at the end of the 8th Ibero-American Migration Authority Meeting, that involved the top migration officials from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Panama, Portugal and Uruguay. Because Portugal is not in Latin America, it did not join the statement.

The statement “recognizes that the current migration phenomenon is complex”, and that as a result it poses unique challenges spread across multiple facets, including legal and technological matters. The twelve signatories agreed to “propose measures to improve the migration process”, paying particular attention to the plight of the most vulnerable.

According to El Nacional, the representatives from Peru, Colombia and Ecuador all asserted during the weekend summit that the number of Venezuelan migrants crossing their borders is growing.

Roxana del Aguila, Peru’s top migration official, said that 80% of the 600,000 Venezuelans living in that country arrived this year. Her Ecuadorian counterpart, Galo Navarrette, said that out of the 800,000 Venezuelans who entered the country in 2018, 700,000 said that they were in transit to Ecuador’s southern neighbours, like Peru and Argentina.

Rosneft Chief Gives Maduro Earful Over Debt Payments

Reuters published an article yesterday in which it recounts a visit to Maduro by Igor Sechin, the head of Russia’s Rosneft, which allegedly took place some time this week.

According to the article, the secret meeting was a tense once, since Sechin expressed his discontent at the fact that Maduro is prioritizing oil-for-debt payments to China rather than Russia. According to Reuters:

Sechin and a large delegation of executives met with officials at PDVSA in a Caracas hotel this week. Sechin also met with Venezuela’s leftist leader Maduro, and chided him overoil-for-loans shipments that are behind schedule.

“He brought information showing that they were meeting obligations with China but not with them,” said one source with knowledge of the talks.

“They’re running around in PDVSA because of this,” added the source, asking to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Venezuela has for years offered to pay back monetary loans with oil shipments. During the meeting, Sechin “brought information” demonstrating that Maduro was meeting its payment obligations with China but not with Russia.

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