Understanding Political Reactions to the Venezuelan Displacement

• In Event: Migración internacional venezolana en las Américas: orígenes y desafíos (parte I)

Abstract

It is increasingly evident that the Venezuelan exodus that began in 2014 is now the fastest-escalating displacement of people across borders in Latin American history. Policy reactions to the displacement of millions of Venezuelans across the region pose an intriguing research puzzle to the scholars of migration and refugee studies. Countries governed conservatively were much more welcoming in their approach of managing Venezuelan immigration than left of center counterparts. This puzzle becomes even more salient when taking into account that the left of center governments across Latin American initiated significant liberalization of immigration and refugee laws and policies in the past two decades. In this paper, we argue that initially, foreign policies considerations trumped domestic concerns in immigration policies towards Venezuelan immigrants. Executives that condemned Maduro’s regime welcomed Venezuelan immigrants, albeit to varying degrees, while countries still aligned with Venezuela, denied the existence of the country’s humanitarian and the resulting migration crisis. Based on process tracing, we further analyze the breaking point at which the increasing numbers of Venezuelan migrants let domestic concerns trump foreign policy considerations in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Author

• Luisa Feline Freier, Universidad del Pacífico (Lima, Perú)