Venezuela's Foreign Ministry reported Tuesday that a total of 90 Venezuelans will return to their country, after having lived in Ecuador. Through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria (‘Return To The Homeland’) program, these nationals will reach Venezuelan soil.
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The head of the state airline Conviasa, Ramon Velazquez Araguayan, said Saturday, “We’ve seen the quintupling of the number of co-nationals that want to return voluntarily to the country, for whom we will be adding new days for the 'Return to the Homeland’ scheme … what is sure is that we’ll increase the frequency of the flights.”
He added that President Nicolas Maduro backs the move, saying, “Our president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro has given instructions that we have all the necessary resources available to maintain the operationality of the aircraft to guarantee the happy return of Venezuelans to their homeland.”
The next flight scheduled by the Bolivarian government is leaving Ecuador on Saturday to bring 170 Venezuelan nationals home. Another flight is leaving Peru on May 18 with another 170 looking to return to Venezuela.
Since August 2017, over 14,000 Venezuelan nationals have returned to their country with the plan. Another 50,000 have signed up and are awaiting a flight. A number of Venezuelans moved to neighboring Latin American countries following the U.S. sanctions and economic war the country has been a victim of, however, many are disillusioned with life in countries such as Peru and Ecuador where they have faced discrimination and labor exploitation. The large waiting list to return on government flights continues to grow.