Brazil has deployed troops to the northern state of Roraima due to an influx of Venezuelan migrants. The United Nations’ migration agency has warned that this crisis is approaching the critical level that the Mediterranean migration crisis reached in 2015.
Venezuelans are fleeing a crumbling economy that has resulted in shortages of food, medicine, and basic commodities. Venezuelan President Maduro declared a state of economic emergency in 2016 after oil prices bottomed out causing the currency to fall along with it. A power struggle within the government ensued after that, which has only worsened the economic problems. Colombia, the United States, and Spain were the major destinations for Venezuelan migrants in 2017, with over one million people moving to these countries one year after the political and economic turmoil.
