<\/p>\n
One of the most influential politicians in Venezuela once deemed images of his fellow citizens abandoning their home country the result of a professionally scripted, \u201cHollywood-type blockbuster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Migration, Diosdado Cabello said, was an issue conjured by a \u201cmedia apparatus.\u201d Similarly, his boss, President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, denied for years, at least publicly, that millions of people were literally walking away from Venezuela<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Nothing, however, could have pushed them out of denial and into acceptance faster than the existential threat that their self-described socialist government is facing for the first time in years.<\/p>\n As Maduro works toward reelection with a divided, diminished and disappointed base, he has slowly transformed into a defender for migrants, challenging news reports linking some to criminal activities and accusing immigration authorities in other countries of abusing Venezuelans.<\/p>\n Maduro, like the chief opposition coalition, is promising job opportunities to lure people to return or not leave. But unlike the opposition\u2019s proposals, his no longer ring true for many voters, and they have already made up their minds: If Maduro wins on July 28<\/a><\/span>, they will become migrants.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Venezuela. I would like to pursue a medical career here, but one must think about the future,\u201d said Arnaldo Benitez, 18. \u201cI want my family to have a decent life and not be thinking \u2018I can\u2019t afford this or that.\u2019 So, I have to plan for a better future even if it unfortunately means leaving Venezuela<\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n Benitez, who finished high school last year, plans to move to Colombia, which has received the largest share of the more than 7.7 million Venezuelans who have migrated<\/a><\/span> since their country came undone last decade. He said other people in his rural community of Torococo are also waiting for the election outcome to decide whether to leave, but a group of 20 thought it best not to wait and left in early May.<\/p>\n A nationwide poll conducted last month by the Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed that roughly a fourth of people are thinking about migrating, primarily for economic reasons<\/a><\/span>. Of those thinking about leaving Venezuela, about 47% said an electoral win by the opposition would make them stay and roughly the same amount indicated that an improved economy would also keep them in their home country.<\/p>\n Migration decisions are dominating conversations at malls, high schools and political rallies. Some people are saving whatever money they can from various jobs and others are selling their belongings.<\/p>\n In the 11 years since Venezuelans learned that President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez was dead and his handpicked successor, Maduro<\/a><\/span>, would take over, a drop in oil prices, corruption and government mismanagement<\/a><\/span> sunk the country into a complex crisis, pushing people into poverty, hunger, poor health, crime, desperation and migration. Economic sanctions imposed last decade failed to topple Maduro, as the United States and other governments intended, but they contributed to the existing crisis.<\/p>\n In recent months, he accused media outlets, including The Associated Press, of carrying out a campaign against Venezuelan migrants, accusing them of \u201csaying that all the crimes in the world today are committed by Venezuelans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo Venezuelan migrants: We love you and our love makes us say, \u2018Come back!\u2019 We are waiting for you here, this is your land,\u201d he said on state television in February. \u201cEnough of xenophobia and persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n Maduro is seeking to extend his presidency for six more years. Last year, he entered into an agreement with the U.S.-backed Unitary Platform opposition coalition to work toward improving conditions for a free and fair election. But he has since changed course as the meteoric rise of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado<\/a><\/span> turned into a real threat to his reelection prospects, and he has used his ruling party\u2019s control over all government institutions to tilt the balance.<\/p>\n The country\u2019s top court in January affirmed an administrative decision blocking Machado\u2019s candidacy<\/a><\/span>. Her chosen substitute was barred from the ballot, too. She and the coalition are now backing former diplomat Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia<\/a><\/span>. Compared to Machado, who has campaigned for more than a year, few voters know Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s name or background, but her endorsement is enough for many to want to vote for him.<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez, during his first campaign rally in mid-May, asked supporters to imagine \u201ca country in which our airports and borders would be filled with our children returning home\u201d should he win.<\/p>\n A father of three, Miguel Montilla, 53, retired from the armed forces after 27 years of service, but he and his family cannot live off his roughly $20 monthly pension. He said he will vote for Gonz\u00e1lez because he hopes the candidate will implement changes that spur economic development and convince two of his children to return to Venezuela, just as Machado has repeatedly promised on the campaign trail<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n \u201cI have lost my children because they dropped out of college and migrated. I want them to come back and have a family life and a better future,\u201d said Montilla, who has a small convenience store in Sabana de Mendoza. His eyes swelled at the thought of a family reunion, but after a few hopeful seconds, he considered the other possibility after the election.<\/p>\n \u201cI better encourage my other son to leave if Maduro wins again. He has to leave,\u201d Montilla said. \u201cI might leave, too.\u201d<\/p>\n The Delphos poll showed that people between the ages of 18 and 34 were more likely to consider leaving Venezuela. The poll had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.<\/p>\n Colombia\u2019s migration chief, Fernando Garc\u00eda, told Congress earlier this month the government \u201cshould expect a large influx of Venezuelan migrants\u201d should Maduro win. The director of the Migration Colombia agency said Maduro\u2019s victory coupled with the recent decision of the U.S. government to end some sanctions relief for Venezuela create the conditions that can lead to migration.<\/p>\n