Venezuelan asylum seekers tripled in 2022 -UN agency

FILE PHOTO: A migrant asylum seeker from Venezuela walks outside the Sacred Heart Church after being released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody and spending the night on the street in El Paso, Texas, U.S., December 21, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

(Reuters) - Venezuelans seeking asylum abroad nearly tripled in 2022, according to the United Nations refugee agency, which found that more than two in five new asylum applicants globally last year came from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Venezuelan asylum applications surged 186% last year to 264,000 amid an economic crisis which began in 2014, leaving many struggling to afford basic goods and services and prompting the largest refugee exodus recorded in the Americas.