As Venezuelans around the world have faced increased financial strain during the COVID-19 pandemic many who left so they could find work and send money home are finding it difficult to do so. Unable to earn, as many as 100 thousand have returned home crossing the border with Colombia, but with air travel between the U.S. and Venezuela officially closed there are few options available for Venezuelans in the States.
The vast majority of Venezuelans returning have been referred to by the regime as biological weapons of the west and locked in quarantine camps. Migrants have been forced to spend weeks sleeping on the floor without access to personal protection equipment, little food & scarce access to running water.
Conversely for those who have around $2,000 USD to spend a travel company based in Caracas, "Travel ISIS Tours" has been advertising packages on social media offering a flight from Miami Florida to Boa Vista Brazil, and from Boa Vista to the border town of Santa Elena Venezuela. They include a one way plane ticket, an overnight stay with breakfast, and travel between the border and Caracas. The most shocking part? Travellers will be able to skip the 2 week quarantine required as per the usual migration rules.
For those who have less money but still need to get back to Venezuela, they are also offering a basic package for around $1000 USD that only takes the traveller as far as the border and leaves them to navigate the immigration process and travel through the country themselves.
This can be very dangerous as the remote border regions of Venezuela are largely lawless and a person is as likely to get robbed by the police or army as by criminals.
I looked through tracking websites for evidence of the first flight which should have been on September 1st but I was unable to find anything that lines up with the dates, several messages to ISIS travel tours went unanswered.
Written by Simon Bolivar