Oscar Puentes.

Venezuelans immigration: a great opportunity for Colombia.

One of the most common dreams that people usually have in Colombia is to leave their country
and find new opportunities abroad. It’s a fact Colombia hasn’t been able to solve its own society
problems like the civil war, drug trafficking, internally displaced people, corruption, among others.
Consequently, nobody had thought Colombia could be a destination from foreing immigrants
before Venezuela’s crisis. Thousands of Venezuelans have arrived to our country to look for better
opportunities. In many cases, we have seen them working in public transportation, on the street
and neighborhood stores. Even, a few of them have been involved in crime. Despite this, I’m sure
the majority of Venezuelan immigrants are struggling in an honest way. This is the first time
Colombia lives a migration phenomenon. I know plenty of Colombians are thinking this is trouble,
but we can look on the bright side and face the problem like an opportunity for improving our
society. All Colombian society should support immigrants, from government to common citizens,
not only Venezuelans could teach us different ways to do things because of their history and our
culture would be enriched, but also their ideas would create new products, markets and, therefore,
new opportunities for both Colombians and Venezuelans because immigrant population tend to
think always in a risky way, and, finally, countries that support this kind of population develop
economy stability, tolerance and liberal values.

Colombia can be taught by Venezuela’s history. It wasn’t always a country in crisis. In contrast to
Colombia where we have always suffered a crisis because of civil war and corruption since 1940’s
or even more ancient, Venezuela achieved reaching a dreamed prosperity in 1970’s. In that age,
Venezuela was the envy of all Latin America. Thanks not only to its natural resources like gold,
iron, diamonds and, mainly, oil, but also for its good governing practices, Venezuela became the
most economically developed country of the region with a poverty percentage only about 20%.
Besides, it had a booming middle class with a great purchasing power that was able to travel to
Miami in a habitual way, among others. Neither venezuelans wanted to leave their country nor to
become in a country like Argentina and Chile, that were going through a dictatorship regimens.
Venezuela’s economy increasing was an attractive place to immigrants of every country of Latin
America, including Colombia, obviously. Therefore, nowadays Colombia and other countries in
the region are receiving people from Venezuela who have this historically experience and it’s
important to know how to take advantage of it. Venezuela’s experience could be used by
Colombia for implementing strategies that make easier entrepreneurship programs.

Second, regardless of whether immigrants come from venezuela or other places, they tend to
have a riskier way to think instead of locals. It's important to understand how immigrant’s
psychology works in this aspect. When people leave their country, they are taking a crucial
decision in their lives. They are aware that they have to at a disadvantages compete with locals
to get a job. As a result, this population need to be more creative to get earnings for surviving.
The consequences are simple: Either figure out a way to survive or just die. For example, in the
United States, immigrants have brought ideas like “blue jeans, Google, Tacos, Apple, among
other contributions”1. A common belief in our society is immigrants steal jobs from natives citizens,
but plenty of researches have shown they don’t compete for being hiring in the same jobs that
natives wants, in contrast, they could be a complement to the workforce due to the fact they often
do the jobs that natives don’t want. For that reason, immigration’s Impulsing could be canalized
by government for increasing their quality of life and avoiding crime.

A counter argument against immigrants is the increasing of crime and insecurity, most of all in big
cities, because they will need to survive, it doesn’t matter the way. The worse the conditions in
the origin country are, the more ready immigrants are to commit all types of crime. In my opinion,
immigrants are not a cause of crimes, but their crimes are a consequence of bad policies that
affect them. According to statistics of Colombian National Police, in 2017 all the captures were
238.429, which just 2703 people were Venezuelans. It’s means they just are the 1% of all
detentions2. In addition, the police claims 96% of crimes are committed by Colombians. Therefore,
the main increase of crime is caused by internal issues instead of migration phenomenon3. It
makes sense with immigrant psychology: trying to be accepted by natives in the best way for
reaching stability and support. As a result, supporting immigrants and avoiding xenophobia not
only decrease immigrant crimes’ rate, but also promote the productivity for the newer population,
and finally, they would be able to offer jobs even to locals.

Finally, based on other countries’ experiences, immigrant population have been crucial for getting
a more stable economy and liberal values. Countries like Argentina, Canada, and, even, United
States have taken advantages of this population in different ages. Let's deeply study the Argentina
case. Between 1880 to 1940, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. How did
they achieve that? In 1858, argentinas adapted the Juan Bautista Alberdi’s Constitution project.
It promoted free enterprise, the independence of production system from state direct influence
and, in addition, the idea that immigrants must be supported, giving opportunities to all the people
who came from all over the world. As a result, although Argentina is not within the richest countries
group anymore, It’s culture is one of the most known all over the world and Buenos Aires is the
most visited city in South America. Definitely, immigrants have contributed from their own culture
for becoming Argentina the country we know these days.

To sum up, there clearly are more advantages than disadvantages in supporting venezuelans
immigrants. Not only do statistics show they are not a huge threat for our security, but also
experiences all over the world prove the significance and benefits of supporting them.
Nevertheless, It's completely clear to the majority the more unknown a phenomenon is, the fearer
people feel. In conclusion, even if fear is huge amount society, we have to bite the bullet and try
to support the new immigrant population.

1
https://www.globalcitizen.org/es/content/how-immigrants-benefit-society-trump/
2
https://www.publimetro.co/co/noticias/2019/02/15/la-inseguridad-colombia-no-culpa-los-
venezolanos.html
3
https://es.panampost.com/felipe-fernandez/2019/05/10/delitos-de-venezolanos-en-colombia-no-
generan-gran-alarma/
Bibliography:

https://www.publimetro.co/co/noticias/2019/02/15/la-inseguridad-colombia-no-culpa-los-
venezolanos.html

https://www.infobae.com/opinion/2018/04/17/en-1895-argentina-tuvo-pbi-per-capita-mas-alto-
del-mundo-que-salio-mal/

https://www.globalcitizen.org/es/content/how-immigrants-benefit-society-trump/
https://es.panampost.com/felipe-fernandez/2019/05/10/delitos-de-venezolanos-en-colombia-no-generan-
gran-alarma/