Guacamaya, June 6, 2025. The decision by the United States government to include Venezuela on the list of countries subject to new migration and visa restrictions has drawn rejection from various sectors of Venezuela’s opposition and ruling party. Voices across the political spectrum warn that this measure could further victimize those fleeing the humanitarian, economic, and political crisis, urging protection for the displaced rather than punishment.
From the Democratic Unitary Platform to pro-government factions and organizations like Vente Venezuela, including leaders such as Edmundo González Urrutia and Henrique Capriles, the stance is unanimous: Venezuelans must be excluded from any migration measure that fails to distinguish between victims and perpetrators.
“The Venezuelan people don’t choose to flee: they’re forced out by a regime that denies them rights, documents, identity, and a future,” stated Edmundo González Urrutia via platform X. “Justice cannot be conflated with indiscriminate punishment. Protecting the displaced is a moral imperative,” he added.
Henrique Capriles detailed U.S. government actions directly affecting Venezuelan migrants, including revocation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), suspension of humanitarian parole, shutdown of the CBP One system, detentions, and deportations: “How much more must our people suffer?” he asked, stressing that Venezuelan migrants seek refuge, not benefits.
Jorge Barragán, political leader and International Affairs spokesperson for The Pencil (El Lápiz), labeled the order “openly discriminatory and disproportionate,” asserting it lacks technical or security justification.
From the ruling party, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil rejected the measure, calling it “a campaign of stigmatization and criminalization against the Venezuelan people” imposed without justification.
In an official statement released Thursday, the Vente Venezuela party categorically opposed the restrictions: “Thousands of Venezuelans have been forced to abandon their country by a criminal regime that left them without legal protection or human rights.” The organization founded by María Corina Machado urged that migration measures target those supporting the “regime” or committing “illegal acts” abroad, “not those fleeing it.”
Vente Venezuela also thanked the Trump administration for what it called “support for the democratic cause,” reiterating that “the end of Nicolás Maduro’s tyranny is the only guarantee for our compatriots’ return and regional stability.”
The situation for Venezuelans appears increasingly precarious due to the Trump administration’s recent measures.
