Venezuelans Take Risky Voyage To Curaçao To Flee Crisis
Most Venezuelans looking to emigrate cross land borders into Colombia or Brazil. But for many, Caribbean islands like Curaçao are much closer escapes from their country's turmoil.
Auri Chirinos keeps close watch over her 2-year-old twin daughters as she walks with them through La Vela de Coro, a fishing town on Venezuela's Caribbean coast. She's extremely protective of the toddlers — and for good reason.
She recently lost her eldest daughter, who drowned while trying to reach the island of Curaçao.
In January 2018, Jeanauri Jiménez Chirinos, 18, squeezed aboard a small boat captained by smugglers and packed with migrants bound for Curaçao, a Dutch island located 40 miles off the Venezuelan coast. They were part of an exodus Venezuelans — about 12% of Venezuela's population — who have emigrated, largely within the , amid the country's worst economic crisis in history.
