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As the Nicolas Maduro regime escalates the levels of violent repression to hold on to power amid accusations it stole the recent presidential election, more than 40% of all Venezuelans say that they are now considering fleeing their South American homeland, a new survey shows. 

Venezuelan polling firm Meganalisis surveyed 1,007 people between Aug. 8-11. Results showed that 43% of those interviewed are currently considering leaving Venezuela. This time the mass migration could happen quickly, the Meganalisis survey suggests, finding that the equivalent of about 600,000 people are considering leaving before the middle of next month, while an additional 930,000 would leave between October and December. 

Were such an enormous exodus to happen, it would add about 10.4 million to what’s already the biggest external displacement in the Western Hemisphere, with over 7.7 million Venezuelans having left their country over the past decade. 

Sc a massive wave of migration would have a devastating effect on the region, already under strain amid large levels of irregular migration because so many Latin American countries are currently experiencing political and humanitarian crises at the same time. Colombia, which shares a long land border with Venezuela, is home to almost three million Venezuelan migrants already. 

But hundreds of thousands Venezuelans have also made the trip north to the U.S.-Mexico border in an attempt to enter the United States, which the Biden administration has attempted to discourage through several policies, including limits on asylum for those who cross unlawfully.

A large-scale exodus out of Venezuela would likely exacerbate political tensions in the U.S., where migration is at the front and center of the upcoming presidential election between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The Meganalisis survey also showed that 93% of Venezuelans don’t believe Maduro won the election. The government-controlled National Electoral Council said Maduro won with nearly 52% of the vote, but even voters who support the government believe that the Venezuelan strongman lost the election, according to the poll. The opposition, basing its case on a paper trail of the voting record, has made a credible case that challenger Edmundo Gonzalez won with a more than 2-1 margin of the vote. 

Rubén Chirinos, president of Meganalisis, said that Venezuelans who say they are considering leaving in the next four weeks have pretty much made up their minds to go. 

“Right at this moment, we have about 100,000 people saying they are planning to leave right now. Those have already made up their minds,” Chirinos told the Miami Herald in a telephone interview. “Those that say they are considering doing it in a couple of months might be because they know they have to first work on the preparations, and those who say they are considering leaving next year is probably because they are leaning towards doing it but are still dealing with doubts.”

The survey also showed that 70% of respondents said they are angry at the state of affairs in Venezuela, while at times also experiencing helplessness (59%), indignation (59%) and anxiety (48%), in response to a question where participants could select more than one of 10 different choices. 

Those claiming that they are happy amounted to 2.8%. 

Opposition leaders gathered and published the results of 80% of voting stations, which showed that González actually won the election with more than 65% of the vote. They have been warning that regional leaders, including Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and the U.S., don’t appear to understand that Venezuela is a ticking time bomb that will result in millions of refugees flooding their streets and traveling towards the U.S.-Mexico border.

Meanwhile, discontent continues to grow amid a massive crackdown that has led to the deaths of 25 people, injured dozens more and landed more than 2,000 in prison. The repression has recently taken on a more violent streak with the regime’s employment of armed paramilitary groups witnesses say open fire at demonstrators without justification. 

Maduro announced in recent days that those arrested will soon be sent to Tocorón and Tocuyito, two of the nation’s worst prisons, and are now being held without access to legal representation. 

In an attempt to increase its control over the Venezuelan population, Maduro has taken steps to clamp down on the usage of social media, banning the use of X for 10 days and discouraging the use of Whatsapp, Tik Tok and Instagram while the government-controlled National Assembly prepares new laws to combat what it calls the spread of “hate” on social media. 

While the opposition, headed by leader María Corina Machado, is backing demonstrations around the world in favor of a democratic transition and regional leaders seek to hold a presidential summit to facilitate it, Florida officials and leaders are raising the alarm on the possibility of a mass migration.

“Scenes from Caracas make clear that Venezuelans are holding their ground and rejecting Maduro’s election theft despite widespread violent repression. Concern about refugees is only part of the reason we must have their back,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents swaths of Miami-Dade and Broward County, in a statement to the Miami Herald. She said that there was a “rare opportunity to bring pressure towards a democratic transition and remedy the root cause of Venezuelan migration — autocracy and corruption” because of the resilience of Venezuelans and the Biden administration’s “tireless diplomatic efforts.” 

Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Miami warned in a statement that other nations in the Western Hemisphere would experience “an exodus of Venezuelans flooding their countries like never before if Nicolás Maduro is successful in stealing the elections and remaining in power.

“Millions of Venezuelans are clinging to the hope that the nightmare of Chavista brutality is finally coming to an end, and that they can remain in their home country. The Biden Administration needs to be doing everything possible, including revising oil licenses so that Maduro and his ‘secuaces’ know that it’s time to go,” she added, using the Spanish word for henchmen. 

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio criticized the Biden-Harris administration, calling it “directly responsible for perpetuating the agony of the Venezuelan people after waves of concessions to the narco-regime.” 

“Any individual with common sense has concluded that Maduro’s sham ‘electoral victory’ would lead to yet another wave of mass migration,” Rubio said “The Venezuelan people overwhelmingly voted for Edmundo Gonzalez as their president and dictator Maduro wants to steal yet another election.” 

The Biden administration has negotiated with Venezuela to resume direct deportations of undocumented migrants to the South American country. It also lifted oil and gas sanctions after Maduro pledged to hold free elections, although it restored them again in April. The U.S. has said that Maduro lost the election, but the administration has not officially recognized Gonzalez as the winner and president-elect. It has also said it is willing to discuss any proposal that would lead to a democratic transition in Venezuela, but denied reports from the the Wall Street Journal saying that it had offered Maduro — who faces federal corruption and drug-trafficking charges in the U.S. — amnesty if he steps down.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article291055910.html#storylink=cpy