A Painful Passport Paradox Is Trapping Venezuelans Living Abroad
- Consulate closures make it nearly impossible to get documents
- More than half of Venezuelan migrants’ passports have expired
Source: Bloomberg
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Many Venezuelans trying to renew their passports abroad face a catch-22: They can’t return home without a current passport. But, in order to receive a new passport, they must return home.
Nicolás Maduro withdrew Venezuela’s diplomatic staff from several Latin American countries after they questioned the results of a disputed election earlier this year, shutting down consulates in Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. That means migrants who applied for new passports in those countries ahead of July’s vote will have to return home to retrieve them.