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Global Health Econ Sustain Latin American Liberal migration policies

records, as of the beginning of 2021, approximately of December 2018). This includes approximately 450,000
29
2.5 million Venezuelans reside in Colombia, 1.5 million Venezuelan migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
in Peru, 502,000 in Ecuador, 459,000 in Brazil, 444,000 in Conversely, Peru remains mainly an emigration country.
Chile, and 220,000 in Argentina. 28 The surge in irregular border crossings at the Chile-Peru
This marks an unprecedented situation in the region’s border has sparked local protests. At the beginning of the
history, particularly because, historically, Venezuela has year 2023, the Chilean government, which holds a radical
been a migrant destination rather than an origin (Instituto left stance, took decisive action by deploying military
Social del Mercosur, 2019). As a general consideration, personnel to patrol the border. Moreover, they have
these statistics far surpass the number of individuals initiated deportations and coordinated flights to repatriate
of Syrian origin that Europe received at the peak of the the migrants. In February, 86 individuals were expelled on
“refugee crisis,” despite the fact that the available resources a military plane to Caracas, and another 52 migrants were
for South American states are significantly fewer than transported by bus. Furthermore, the Chilean government
those of Europe. has tightened entry requirements for Venezuelans by
requiring additional documentation. 30
Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the
borders of South American countries remained de facto “As Venezuelan large-scale displacement worsened and
open, allowing thousands of Venezuelans to depart their some South American countries adopted more restrictive
country daily (Brumat & Freier, 2020). Governments policies, only one country in the region recognized large
across the Latin American political spectrum — both numbers of Venezuelans as refugees and, at the same time,
left-leaning and right-leaning — provided support in adopted a longer-term regularization policy based on a
the form of visa waivers, mobility cards, and access to regional agreement. That country is Brazil, which is not
humanitarian assistance, healthcare, education, and governed by a leftist political party whose foreign policy
childcare. Migrants were also granted work permits and agenda is driven by the promotion of human rights, as
credentials to facilitate their integration into the labor happened in South America during the ‘pink tide’ of left-
market, similar to Colombia’s 10-year residency permit wing governments who liberalised migration policies. (…)
for Venezuelans. Colombia, in particular, responded to These ‘regularization’ routes – by providing residence and
the influx with a suite of policies aimed at integrating migratory status, without making any distinction between
Venezuelans rather than deterring them. These initiatives these legal categories- can be seen as a way for the Brazilian
were lauded by the ACNUR as an important humanitarian state to address the issue of irregularity and increase its
31
gesture (Freier and Nicolas, 2019). control over its territory and population.”
As migration flows intensified and the COVID-19 During Bolsonaro’s tenure, Brazil recognized a
pandemic prompted several governments to close their significant number of Venezuelans as refugees while
borders, irregular border crossing multiplied, leading to simultaneously adopting a longer-term regularization
tensions between Chile and Peru. These two countries policy based on a regional agreement. Among South
present distinct migratory patterns. Chile is a primary American countries, Brazil boasted the highest
destination for migrants seeking better living conditions regularization rate for Venezuelan nationals, standing
and refugees, hosting a total of 1,251,225 foreigners (data at 74% compared to an average rate below 50% in the
other countries. According to the United Nations, Brazil
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28 REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS FROM VENEZUELA. currently hosts 623,000 refugees, asylum seekers, and
Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the world: individuals in need of special protection. Within this
7,239,953. Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Latin
America and the Caribbean: 6,095,464. (https://www. 29 National Institute of Statistics (INE) (2019) Report.
r4v.info/ [Last updated 28 March 2023 at the time of Available at: www.extranjeria.gob.cl/media/2019/07/
writing]). Estimación-Población-Extranjera-en-Chile.pdf
These figures represent the sum of Venezuelan (accessed 23 June 2023).
refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers reported by 30 https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/12/06/
host governments. They do not necessarily imply cf-venezuelas-migrants-bring-economic-opportunity-
individual identification, nor registration of each to-latin-america
individual, and may include a degree of estimation, 31 https://blogs.eui.eu/migrationpolicycentre/migrants-
as per each government’s statistical data processing or-refugees-lets-do-both-brazils-response-to-
methodology. As numerous government sources venezuelan-displacement-challenges-legal-definitions/
do not account for Venezuelans without a regular 32 https://blogs.eui.eu/migrationpolicycentre/migrants-
status, the total number of Venezuelans is likely to be or-refugees-lets-do-both-brazils-response-to-
higher. venezuelan-displacement-challenges-legal-definitions/

Volume 1 Issue 1 (2023) 11 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.0861