Venezuelan Govt To Increase Flights for Return of Venezuelans

"On behalf of President Nicolás Maduro, we are committed to tripling the Return to the Homeland Plan flights, launching the second consecutive day, with destination Peru, to continue returning Venezuelan nationals and filling more Venezuelan homes with joy," the Venezuelan official published on Twitter.

A total of 254 Venezuelans returned to the country on Thursday as part of the state program called "Plan Vuelta a la Patria," an initiative developed by Maduro's administration to guarantee the free return to Venezuela of Venezuelans in vulnerable situations.

Coming from Peru, a plane of the Venezuelan Consortium of Aeronautical Industries and Air Services (Conviasa) arrived at the International Airport of Maiquetía, Simón Bolívar, in the state of La Guaira (north) at 15.44 local time (19.44 GMT), with the group of repatriated people.

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According to information published on the official web page of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, Greidimar Doria, one of the beneficiaries on this second day, said that returning to her country is a dream.

"Thanks to this initiative, we have achieved our dream to set foot on Venezuelan soil for our son to grow up with his family," said Doria.

This is the second repatriation flight from Lima this year, the first was on Wednesday and in it, more than 250 Venezuelans arrived. At the same time, last March 22, another 97 migrants returned to their country from Ecuador.

Since 2018, the Venezuelan government implemented the plan back to the homeland; according to government authorities, more than 28,000 Venezuelans have returned.

On March 15, President Nicolás Maduro denounced the bias of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and accused it of producing false figures on Venezuelan migration.

In addition, he qualified as a lie the figure published by UNHCR, which states that more than six million Venezuelans left the country in the last eight years.

The Venezuelan government said that the migration of Venezuelan citizens had been caused by the sanctions of the United States and the European Union, which have hit its economy and caused the devaluation of its currency and, therefore, its purchasing power.