POLITICS INFLUENCE LATIN AMERICA’S ONGOING VENEZUELAN MIGRATION CRISIS: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF COLOMBIA AND PERUS RESPONSE
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Date
2023-07-20
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Venezuelan migration has turned from a normative migration pattern of people leaving to seek work and educational opportunities to an ongoing crisis as the deterioration of the government, economy, and security continues to drive out millions. Hosting this overwhelming group of migrants has become the responsibility of neighboring countries already struggling with their internal challenges of poverty, unemployment, violence, and inequality. Initially, governments welcomed Venezuelans migrants and provided legal pathways for residency. However, the diaspora’s magnitude and speed amplified existing structural problems, leading to a shift in host countries’ response as they began enacting restrictions. This thesis examines the factors that influenced a variation in migration policies between Colombia and Peru and how the responses have evolved as political transitions occurred and the number of migrants increased overtime.
A combination of historical, legal, and discourse analysis methods was utilized to discover how politics has influenced migration policy in the region—political migration theories in combination with a deep analysis between regional affairs and historical relations. The study concludes that the shift towards increased restrictions and the rise of xenophobia occurred due to the surge of migrants, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which intensified economic and social challenges. This thesis challenges previous researchers’ conclusions that the variation in Colombia’s pro-migration policies and Peru’s increased restriction is due to historical ties and highlights the effects that domestic, bilateral relations, and political transitions in
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Keywords
Migration, Refugees, Latin America, Colombia, Venezuela