Their hopes dashed, Venezuelan migrants abandon plans for return [Video]

When Nicolas Maduro was declared president-elect for a third successive term, Colombian-based Venezuelan migrant Jose Ochoa started packing his bags for the long and dangerous trek to the United States.

Like others who have sought respite from Venezuela’s economic collapse in various countries around the world, Ochoa’s last hope for a change that would allow him to return home was dashed by Maduro’s disputed win at the polls.

Ochoa, 38, had been confident of an opposition victory, as predicted by opinion polls, in the July 28 vote.

And he thought he would finally be able to return home four years after fleeing the economic crash overseen by Maduro.

An 80 percent drop in GDP in a decade pushed more than seven million Venezuelans to seek a better life elsewhere — most of them, some three million, in neighboring Colombia.

Now, with the prospect of another six years of Maduro — …