More than a third of Venezuelan refugees in other Latin American countries (35%) plan to return to their country, reveals a survey prepared by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and presented this Tuesday.
9% of the 1,288 Venezuelan citizens surveyed in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Guatemala even consider this return in less than a year, according to the survey, presented at a press conference by UNHCR spokesperson, Matthew Saltmarsh.
According to the agency’s most up-to-date complete figures, corresponding to November 2025, Latin American and Caribbean countries host 6.9 million Venezuelan refugees, of which 4 million require humanitarian assistance.
The main motivation for returning in the short or medium term is family reunification, although some respondents also mention pressures in the host countries derived from socioeconomic difficulties.
On the contrary, the main reasons given for not returning for the moment are fear of lack of work or income and insecurity, options chosen in both cases by 22% of those surveyed.
60% also indicate that they do not have sufficiently reliable information about what their legal situation would be if they returned, both in Venezuela and in their current host country.
The United Nations agency insisted that any return must be “voluntary, safe and dignified,” and accompanied by all possible information about the implications that this decision may have.
UNHCR has previously analyzed the preferences of returned Venezuelan refugees, and 80% of them want to stay in Venezuela.
The UNHCR spokesperson recalled that the agency has requested $328.2 million to assist displaced people and refugees inside and outside Venezuela in 2026, although for now it has only received 12% of those funds from donors.
