Fleeing Venezuelans find work cutting Valentine roses in Colombia

Employees pick flowers to be exported overseas, ahead of Valentine's Day, at Discovery Farm in Facatativa, Colombia February 8, 2018. REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga

CHIA, Colombia (Reuters) - As millions of Americans prepare to celebrate Valentine's Day with flowers, many of those blooms will be picked and packaged by Venezuelan migrants working for a minimum wage after fleeing violence and economic collapse in their South American homeland.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, faced with growing shortages and hyperinflation at home, have fled to neighbouring Colombia, the world's No. 2 flower grower.