MADRID: After surviving the perilous trek through the jungle of Panama’s Darien Gap with his wife and three daughters to reach the United States, Venezuelan policeman Alberto Peña thought he had found a haven from the persecution he says he fled from back home.
But two years later, President Donald Trump’s drive to end temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the US forced Peña and his family to move once again — this time to Spain.
“Migrating twice is difficult, both for oneself and for one’s children,” Peña said from Madrid. “But peace of mind is priceless.”
He is among a growing number of Venezuelans who have become the new drivers of migration to Europe.
Venezuelans were for the first time the largest group applying for asylum in the EU in the first quarter after Germany received fewer Syrians following the toppling of Bashar Assad last year and migration controls in the Mediterranean reduced arrivals via Tunisia and Libya.
