 the us used to be the big buyer of venezuelan oil but has imposed sanctions in recent years and so venezuela has had to look to skirt those sanctions by selling to other countries and that will remain the big challenge for the country economically and all of these economic problems it's led to mass migration hasn't it gideon it has it's been one of the biggest migratory movements on the planet in recent years around a quarter of the venezuelan population around eight million people have left the country