The ongoing economic crisis in Venezuela is driving people to leave the country by the hundreds of thousands—often crossing borders on foot—seeking better lives in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and beyond. They are fleeing a nation that now experiences frequent power outages and water shortages, and suffers from a severe lack of food and basic medical supplies. Hyperinflation has become such a burden that new currency was recently issued, at a conversion rate of 100,000 bolivars (old currency) to 1 sovereign bolivar (new). The IMF estimated that Venezuela’s rate of inflation might reach 1,000,000 percent this year. Just this week, several new economic measures will take effect, including a more-than-3,000 percent hike in the minimum wage. The rising numbers of refugees are causing problems in bordering countries as well, with countries like Ecuador and Peru tightening restrictions on immigration. Gathered here: a look inside Venezuela over the past few months, and at some of those who chose to leave their ailing country behind.
Fleeing Venezuela’s Crushing Economic Crisis
1. Venezuelans heading to Peru walk along the Pan-American Highway in Tulcan, Ecuador, after crossing from Colombia, on August 21, 2018. On August 16, Ecuador announced that Venezuelans entering the country would need to show passports beginning August 18, a document many are not carrying, with Peru following suit effective August 25.
2. A toilet-paper roll is pictured next to 2,600,000 bolivars ($0.40 USD), its price, at a mini-market in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 16, 2018. It was the going price at an informal market in the low-income neighborhood of Catia.
3. A man fills a jerry can with water from the Waraira Repano mountain on June 13, 2018, in Caracas. Water rationing is a regular occurrence across this crisis-hit country, which has huge water resources but a national infrastructure in very poor condition.
4. A sign displays the price of peppers in a stall in a municipal market in Caracas on August 21, 2018. The cost is displayed in old currency, as six million bolivars, and in the newly issued currency, sovereign bolivars, at a conversion rate of 100,000 to 1.
5. Nurses shout anti-government slogans during a protest demanding higher, fair wages and opposing the government of President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas on August 16, 2018. The nurses were confronted by a phalanx of police officers that prevented them from marching toward Miraflores Presidential Palace several miles away.
6. A man rides his bicycle in front of closed stores in Caracas on August 20, 2018.
7. Hundred-bolivar bills lie on the ground close to the boots of several police officers, after they were thrown by protesters during a protest against the government of President Maduro, in Caracas, on August 16, 2018.
8. Americo Fernandez uses a candle to illuminate the kitchen at his home during a blackout in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on July 25, 2018.
9. People pay for goods at the checkout of a supermarket in Caracas on August 18, 2018.
10. Empty shelves in a bakery in Caracas on August 17, 2018
11. Packages of corn flour are used as payment for haircuts in a barber shop in Caracas on June 29, 2018.
12. A man tries to get on a cargo truck used as public transportation in Valencia, Venezuela, on July 11, 2018.
13. People use light from phones while they help Olimpia Mora, who is in a wheelchair, to leave a building during a blackout in Caracas on July 31, 2018.
14. Motorists line up for fuel at a gas station of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, PDVSA, in Caracas, on August 17, 2018.
15. A Venezuelan family from Aragua State poses for a picture as they attempt to hitchhike toward the city of Boa Vista, after they obtained refugee status or temporary residence through the Federal Police and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at the Pacaraima border control in Roraima, Brazil, on August 10, 2018.
16. Indigenous Warao people from the Orinoco Delta in eastern Venezuela rest on hammocks in a shelter in Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil, on August 11, 2018.
17. Daniel, a Venezuelan who has worked at an oil company, poses after showing his passport or identity card at the Pacaraima border control in Roraima, Brazil, on August 9, 2018.
18. A Venezuelan man and his son sleep along a street as they wait to show their passports or identity cards the next day, at the Pacaraima border control, Brazil, on August 8, 2018.
19. Brazilians burn tires as they block a road near the border with Venezuela at the Pacaraima border control point, on August 18, 2018. Building anger, heightened by a reported robbery and beating of a Pacaraima resident in his home by four Venezuelans over the weekend, led to a mob of local Brazilians descending on camping Venezuelan refugees and driving hundreds of them back across the border.
20. Brazilians burn the belongings of Venezuelan people as they block a street near the border with Venezuela at the Pacaraima border control point, on August 18, 2018.
21. Venezuelans walk past belongings and tents burned by civilians at the Pacaraima border control, on August 19, 2018.
22. A Venezuelan woman sits on a chair along the street after showing her passport at the Pacaraima border control in Brazil on August 9, 2018.
23. Venezuelan citizens travel on a truck's car-carrier trailer on the Pan-American Highway, in a rural area of Pasto, Colombia, on their way to the border with Ecuador, on August 19, 2018.
24. A woman cries after she finds out that she cannot enter Ecuador because she does not have a passport, in Rumichaca, Ecuador, on August 18, 2018.
25. A Venezuelan migrant and his daughter wait outside the Ecuadoran Migration offices, at the Rumichaca Bridge in Tulcán, Ecuador, on August 19, 2018, for an authorization that allows them to enter Ecuador.
26. A group of Venezuelans smile as they walk along the Panamericana route toward Lima, on August 15, 2018, in Tumbes, Peru. Most Venezuelans cross the border from Cúcuta, Venezuela to Colombia, where permanence permits are hard to obtain, and travel across Colombia to reach Tumbes.
27. A group of Venezuelans walk along the Panamericana route toward Lima, in Tumbes, Peru, on August 15, 2018.
28. The shadow of a customer is cast on a closed shop at a market in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on August 19, 2018.
29. Buses block an avenue during a public-transport protest against a transport census in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 3, 2018.
30. A man walks close to graffiti that reads "The people die from hunger" in Caracas on August 21, 2018.
31. Grave sites with missing or damaged markers, at the Cemetery of the East in Caracas, on June 19, 2018. A rash of headstone-looting at one of Venezuela’s most cherished cemeteries over the past six months has prompted administrators to preemptively replace some valuable headstones with cheaper material before thieves can strike.
32. A man falls asleep while sitting on a bench on a street in Caracas on August 20, 2018.