Venezuelan Migrants Research Articles

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the response to the flow of Venezuelan migrants in Boa Vista: humanitarian assistance and cooperation

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the response to the flow of Venezuelan migrants in Boa Vista: humanitarian assistance and cooperation

Venezuelan Migration: Peruvian And Ecuadorian Case

Venezuelan migrants access social assistance, social security and labor market programs with the intention of improving their level of life opportunities, within the framework of social inclusion and protection.
 The migratory process of Venezuelans to Ecuador and Peru affects the socioeconomic conditions and distribution of benefits within a territory, causing in some cases the denial of access to services.
 The methodology used is to carry out a questionnaire to Venezuelan migrants who are in Peru: in Trujillo and Tumbes and in Ecuador: in Huaquillas and Guayaquil, carrying out a comparative study and after that, processing the information, tabulating it, analyzing it and preparing the final report.
 As Social Workers, it is important to know the social programs and institutions that support Venezuelan migrants in Ecuador and Peru, determining that there is inclusion, protection and non-discrimination.

The Migration Risk Environment: Challenges to Human Security for Venezuelan Migrant and Refugee Women and Girls Pre- and Post-Migration to Colombia

The Venezuelan crisis has unleashed multiple forms of sociopolitical violence against its population and created a context of unmet needs, insecurity, and human rights violations. Outward migration caused by this situation has been linked to health emergencies in neighboring countries. Venezuelan migrant and refugee women and girls (VMRWG) are among the most affected. We conducted a cross-sectional qualitative and Participatory Action Research (PAR) project to characterize the risk environments for VMRWG across migration phases, analyzing pre-departure, transit, border crossing, and resettlement risk factors for health and security through semi-structured interviews ( n = 30) and human cartographies ( n = 16). We found cross border risk and protective factors that inform cross-border health initiatives, migration policies, and human rights efforts for both the migrant and host communities. Findings and Recommendations Migratory trajectories of VMRWG from Venezuela to Colombia represent a risk environment for women and girls, connecting cross-border contexts through armed actors’ control, culturally reinforced gender roles and limited social and economic resources. Long-term sustainable migratory policies that are culturally sensitive and include a gender-approach to health should operationalize how gender roles are intimately connected to HIV risk and mental health disparities through reinforced structural factors. Such policies must address these structural factors. The public health system needs to incorporate and align with programmatic efforts implemented by international platforms (United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), AID4AIDS, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also known as Doctors Without Borders) targeting screening for infectious diseases (including HIV and mental health disparities) in border crossings and borderlands. Sustainable policies to bridge gaps between services and populations and to decrease growing HIV cases depends on these strategies. Policies and programs of local governments (city and municipality level) addressing mental health disparities need to be expanded through peer leaders and civil society networks of care to guarantee wellbeing and quality of life after resettlement. International efforts and collaborations should capitalize on the re-opening of the border to establish inter-sectoral collaborations with Venezuelan NGOs and civil society organizations on both sides of the border to address gender-based violence, follow-up of cases, and access to services in sending and receiving communities. In order to broach gaps and tackle access barriers in resettlement communities in Colombia, services must be provided in peripheric territories and neighborhoods where some vulnerable migrants resettle. These services must rely on health sector-community collaborations. Public health sector efforts should be integrated and coordinated with family and child services on a local and national level Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF), gender working groups, shelters, and citywide supported initiatives like the House of Women) to provide and promote access to social resources (education, jobs, and housing) for migrant women. Health promotion strategies are necessary to decrease infectious diseases and violence-related trauma among migrants across borders. These strategies can include outreach through peer leaders, civil society organization campaigns, and HIV mobile testing and counselling. These services should be delivered in a culturally sensitive manner, capitalizing on in-place cross-border networks of support. In Colombia, sustainable efforts in policy and programs have been made to provide Venezuelans with access to health care and social services with the help of inter-sectoral working groups, national laws, and border commissions. However, there is an urgent need to expand the humanitarian response and the health sector coverage to gender-based violence impacting infectious disease risk and mental health trauma in host communities. Connecting pre- and post-migration contexts in South-to-South migration is paramount. Tackling these issues can improve the protection of human rights and resettlement conditions in host communities.

Abandoning the Revolution or Weaving Peace? South-South Migration, Socialism, and Decolonial Feminist Geopolitics in South America

ABSTRACT This article presents a decolonial feminist geopolitics of Venezuelan migration to Colombia, with Venezuelans fleeing the socialist Bolivarian Revolution and then facing discrimination and violence upon settling in capitalist Colombia amid its failing peace process context. Conflicts over migration and nationality permeate our global order of sovereign nation-states, both in north-south migrations and across the global south, while the feminisation and racialisation of migrants divides the subaltern class and facilitates capitalist exploitation. However, this paper elucidates migrants’ inter-national solidarities and grassroots peace struggles. Community organisers along the Colombia-Venezuela border – the women’s empowerment organisation Tejedores de Paz and youth leadership foundation Horizonte de Juventud – unite impoverished internally-displaced Colombians and Venezuelan immigrants to create resistance territories against xenophobia, patriarchy, and poverty. Illustrating the utility of the methodology of decolonial feminist geopolitics, I trace the reconfiguration of the spirit of sociopolitical revolution in South America through migrants’ emergent form of feminist non-state socialism.

Migration and integration of middle-class Venezuelans in Costa Rica: Drivers, capitals, and livelihoods

The current Venezuelan crisis has spurred one of the largest mass migrations in Latin American history, with estimates of more than 7 million migrants leaving Venezuela (UNHCR, 2023). Most Venezuelans leaving the country are economically disenfranchised migrants fleeing to neighboring countries with limited economic resources. However, there are upper- and middle-class well-educated Venezuelans migrating to other parts of Latin America whose socio-economic status allows for a different migration experience. This paper draws on qualitative research conducted in 2020–2022 which investigated the dynamics of the upper- and middle-class Venezuelan diaspora settled in the suburbs of San José, Costa Rica. Specifically, the research focused on the migration and integration experiences of Venezuelans in Escazú and Santa Ana, modern, upscale suburbs, due to their rapid increase of Venezuelan population. This paper draws on 14 semi-structured interviews in an effort to contribute to the theoretical understanding of the migration and integration process and answer the questions: (1) What are the factors influencing migrants’ decisions to migrate; (2) what capitals do migrants have and how do they mobilize them; and (3) what do the personal accounts of migration decisions and experiences reveal about the overall well-being of migrants? We build on the Push/Pull Plus Migration Drivers (Van Hear et al., 2018) and the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (Sen, 1981; Chambers, 1983) as analytical frameworks. Findings suggest that our composite framework provides a useful lens through which to understand the decision to migrate for upper and middle class Venezuelan migrants to Costa Rica, and sheds light on the initial stages of their integration process. The addition of cultural and political capitals as assets relevant for understanding migration livelihoods is critical in migratory contexts and shed light on the ways in which migrants navigate the formal and informal integration process. More research is needed on the roles well-being and trauma play in all phases of the migration and integration processes.

Integration of Venezuelan migrants in the tourism labor market in Peru: a case study of regulated travel agencies in Lima

Between 2015 to 2019, Peru became the second biggest host community for displaced Venezuelans, and 4 out 5 chose the capital, Lima, as their destination. While the majority of migrants found jobs in the tourism and hospitality industries, only a minority were employed in the regulated sector of tourism and hospitality, with the majority finding employment in what is considered the unregulated sector. This study presents an analysis on the role of regulated travel agencies in the process of the social and economic integration of Venezuelan migrants in the host country. A qualitative method was employed with in-depth interviews to migrants, migration experts and formal employers in the tourism sector. A total of 12 interviews took place during June to November 2020. It should be noted that the study took place during lockdowns so the sample size is relatively small due to the closure of travel agencies and the challenges on identifying participants. Findings indicate that regulated travel agencies represent a good medium for the integration of Venezuelan migrants as they create professional opportunities for skilled professionals and promote safe multicultural spaces that foster social integration. However, challenges were also recognized as migrants tend to be overqualified for the roles they performed and are also faced with gender inequality and other forms of discrimination by local society. This study proposed that given their professional qualifications Venezuelan migrants have the potential to contribute in the recovery of the tourism sector particularly after the pandemic. However, current unwieldy migration policies may deter them to reach job opportunities in the sector.

Autonomy and Struggle in Times of Viral Borders: Venezuelans Across the South American Andes During Covid-19

ABSTRACT This article takes a close look at Venezuelan migrants' experiences throughout the Andean corridor of cross-border mobility during the COVID-19 emergency. It focuses on the differentiated characteristics of their fragmented journeys to trace the potential of struggles in reclaiming autonomy in contemporary migration. Conceptually, it expands on Nicholas De Genova’s ‘viral borders’ to explore the ways migrants rechannelled, reimagined, and remade their trajectories amid the recent wave of violent, nationalist border controls, expanded in the name of public health. The article argues that, to cope with the consequences of COVID-19 management, Venezuelan migrants made mobility choices related to their differentiated access to social and material resources, enmeshed in prevailing racialised, classed, and gendered social structures. Meanwhile, migrant struggles enabled autonomy amid fragmented journeys opposite Covid-19-related attempts of nationalist (re)bordering. It is suggested that, as legacies of viral borders become more evident, autonomy and struggle remain key in shaping mobility amid the exclusionary post-pandemical border regime.

Longitudinal health survey of women from Venezuela in Colombia (ELSA-VENCOL): First report.

Colombia is currently the world's main recipient country for Venezuelan migrants, and women represent a high proportion of them. This article presents the first report of a cohort of Venezuelan migrant women entering Colombia through Cúcuta and its metropolitan area. The study aimed to describe the health status and access to healthcare services among Venezuelan migrant women in Colombia with irregular migration status, and to analyze changes in those conditions at a one-month follow-up. We carried out a longitudinal cohort study of Venezuelan migrant women, 18 to 45 years, who entered Colombia with an irregular migration status. Study participants were recruited in Cúcuta and its metropolitan area. At baseline, we administered a structured questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, migration history, health history, access to health services, sexual and reproductive health, practice of early detection of cervical cancer and breast cancer, food insecurity, and depressive symptoms. The women were again contacted by phone one month later, between March and July 2021, and a second questionnaire was applied. A total of 2,298 women were included in the baseline measurement and 56.4% could be contacted again at the one-month follow-up. At the baseline, 23.0% of the participants reported a self-perceived health problem or condition in the past month and 29.5% in the past 6 months, and 14.5% evaluated their health as fair or poor. A significant increase was found in the percentage of women who reported a self-perceived health problem during the past month (from 23.1% to 31.4%; p<0.01); as well as in the share who reported moderate, severe, or extreme difficulty working or performing daily chores (from 5.5% to 11.0%; p = 0.03) and who rated their health as fair (from 13.0% to 31.2%; p<0.01). Meanwhile, the percentage of women with depressive symptoms decreased from 80.5% to 71.2% (p<0.01). This report presents initial information on the health status of Venezuelan migrant women in Colombia, and is a starting point for further longer longitudinal follow-ups to assess changes over time in health conditions.

Discrimination On The Immigrants: Migration Venezuelan To The Colombia

Venezuela is facing a severe economic, political, and social crisis, with acute shortages of food, medicine, and other basic goods. At the same time, large numbers of Venezuelans left the country to migrate, causing Latin America to be hit by a massive migration crisis that never happened before. On the other hand, the Venezuelan population who migrated, especially to Colombia, experienced discrimination. Covid 19 is also making the Venezuelan conditions worsen, along with shortages of food, medicine, and health, as well as access to social services. This research aims to analyze various aspects of the Venezuelan immigrant crisis in recent years. Emphasis is placed on the importance of regional migration issues and the participation of the international community. The research used normative juridical legal research methods. The main points of this research are: a) The main social, economic, and political factors related to the humanitarian crisis, especially discrimination and migration issues in Venezuela; b) Venezuelan Migration and Refugee Issues; c) Response and participation of the international community, with particular emphasis on the activities of the European Union, the United Nations, and Latin America, in particular, Colombia. The results of this research are the discrimination that refugees from Venezuela receive due to the lack of funds they must migrate due to a corrupt government which results in them looking for easy and inexpensive alternatives to flee to other countries.

Association between Disability and Unmet Food Needs in the Venezuelan Migrant and Refugee Population: Analysis of a Population-Based Survey, 2022

In Peru, Venezuelan migrants and refugees have been exposed to food shortages before their emigration. This problem could have worse outcomes in vulnerable populations (such as people with disabilities); however, the literature on the basic needs of this population is still scarce. The objective was to determine the association between the presence of disability and the unmet need for access to food in the household of the Venezuelan migrant and refugee population residing in Peru. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Second Survey of the Venezuelan Population Residing in Peru (ENPOVE 2022). The outcome variable was unmet need for food, while the independent variable was the presence of disability. Poisson log generalized linear regression models (crude and adjusted for potential confounding variables) were fitted to evaluate the association between the variables of interest, reporting prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 7739 migrants and refugees from Venezuela were included. The proportion of unmet need for access to food in the household was 45.2%, while the proportion of disability was 2.1%. People with disabilities were found to be more likely to have an unmet need for access to food at home (adjusted PR [aPR]: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.08-1.46; p = 0.003). According to our findings, almost half of Venezuelan households were found to have an unmet need for access to food. In addition, Venezuelan migrants and refugees with disabilities were more likely to have an unmet need for this basic need.

Factors associated with not receiving the primary series and booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine among Venezuelan migrants in Peru: A population-based cross-sectional study

BackgroundEnsuring broad COVID-19 vaccination coverage among migrants is a global public health concern. Thus, our study aimed to assess the factors associated with not receiving the primary series and booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine among Venezuelan migrants in Peru. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study based on secondary data analysis of the 2022 Venezuelan Population Residing in Peru Survey. Our population included Venezuelan migrants and refugees over 18 years old living in Peru with complete information for the variables of interest. Two outcome variables were assessed: not receiving the primary series and not receiving the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Crude and adjusted prevalences were calculated with 95% confidence intervals. ResultsA total of 7,727 Venezuelan adults were included in our study, of whom 6,511 completed the primary series. The overall COVID-19 vaccination coverage of the primary series was 84.17%, whilst the coverage of the booster dose was 28.06%. Being younger, uninsured, illegally-staying, and having a low educational level were associated with both outcomes. ConclusionSeveral sociodemographic and migration-related variables were associated with both outcomes. Governmental policies prioritizing vaccination among Venezuelan migrants are needed to ensure broad coverage in this vulnerable group.

Voluntary interruption of pregnancy and sexual and reproductive health in migrant women in BarranquillaInterrupção voluntária da gravidez e saúde sexual e reprodutiva em mulheres migrantes em Barranquilla

Identify knowledge about and barriers to effective access to voluntary interruption of pregnancy (VIP), and to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in general, among women from Venezuela (Venezuelan migrants and Colombian returnees). Qualitative study of 20 semi-structured interviews with women from Venezuela who are residents of Barranquilla and who carry out leadership activities in communities or who participate in or benefit from those activities. The interviews included opinions and experiences related to access to VIP, and to SRH in general, as well as suggestions for improving access for migrant women. The relationship between access to these services and the migration process was explored, as well as the role of social organizations. A lack of information on SRH-related rights was identified as the main access barrier to VIP. Other identified barriers were: attitude towards VIP, excessive steps involved in accessing medical care, difficulties in admission to the social security system, lack of training and care in SRH, and xenophobia in hospitals. The interviewees said they did not understand the legal framework in Colombia and did not know the channels for safe abortion care. Despite the efforts of institutions and international cooperation, Venezuelan migrant women in Barranquilla are in a situation of vulnerability due to their lack of access to sexual and reproductive health, including voluntary interruption of pregnancy. Implementing strategies for comprehensive care for migrants will improve current health conditions and the effective enjoyment of SRH-related rights.

Sexual and reproductive health needs of Venezuelan migrants in the municipality of Cali, ColombiaNecessidades de saúde sexual e reprodutiva de migrantes de origem venezuelana no município de Cali (Colômbia)

This study seeks to understand the needs associated with the sexual and reproductive health of migrants of Venezuelan origin settled temporarily or permanently in Santiago de Cali, Colombia. A qualitative study was conducted with Venezuelan migrants between 15 and 60 years old. Participants were selected using the snowball technique. Information was initially gathered from people identified by migrant organizations, followed by information gathering in areas with high concentrations of migrants of Venezuelan origin. In-depth interviews were held, and thematic content was analyzed. Of the 48 migrants who participated, 70.8% did not have legal migratory status and were living in conditions of socioeconomic vulnerability. The participants had scarce economic resources, a lack of job opportunities, precarious human capital, and varying levels of social capital, coupled with weak social integration that limited their awareness and appropriation of their rights. Immigration status constituted an access barrier to health services and other social services. There was a particular need for information on sexual and reproductive health rights, with increased risk among young people 15 to 29 years old and members of the LGBTIQ+ community, due to their greater vulnerability and exposure to unsafe spaces for self-care, personal hygiene, and privacy, in addition to their greater need for health care, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, psychosocial support for violence, substance abuse, family conflicts, and gender transition processes. The sexual and reproductive health needs of Venezuelan migrants are determined by their living conditions and migratory experiences.

Durable Displacement and the Protracted Search for Solutions: Promising Programs and Strategies

In March 2022, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) released a request for papers (RFP) for a special issue of its Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS), devoted to identifying solutions to situations of protracted displacement. The co-editors selected 10 papers for this special issue by authors from a dozen countries, including two refugees. The papers cover several large populations in protracted displacement, as well as other less-publicized groups. The former include: Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; Internally displaced persons (IDPs) living on the outskirts of Baku, Azerbaijan; Afghans in Pakistan since the 1970s; Syrians in Turkey since 2011; Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni, Sudanese, Somali, and Iranian refugees in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon; IDPs and Venezuelan migrants in Colombia; Somali refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya; Central Americans seeking protection in Mexico and the United States; and IDPs in Northern Mexico who have been displaced and stranded due to violence, deportation, and US and Mexican asylum policies. This paper introduces and integrates the themes and recommendations from this special issue. Section 1 provides a short overview of the scope, growth, and consequences of protracted displacement. Section 2 situates this phenomenon in a legal context and examines traditional and complementary solutions to displacement. Section 3 outlines topline findings, recommendations, and cross-cutting themes from the special issue. Section 4 offers conclusions and final reflections.

Immigration Policing as Holey War: Rings of Connection, Deadly Gaps, and State Loopholes in the Struggle for Asylum

AbstractThis article uses the concept of holes rather than borders to articulate the space that US immigration policing engenders. In contradistinction to borders—lines or zones that can be mapped, walled, or policed to delimit sovereign bodies—holes are strategic exceptions to mappable sovereignties. Rather than fixed, mappable boundaries, holes are mutable and in flux, thriving on the shifting potential to appear or disappear and to make people disappear as legal subjects. If US immigration policing operates, to a large extent, through holes distributed across borders and long‐distance spaces, then any mapping of this power that centers national borders or bounded nation‐states alone is insufficient. I show how the policing of Venezuelan migration centers the distribution of holes from South and Central America to spaces within the US that are far from “the border.” Against a discursive focus on “the border” and the border wall in US rhetoric on immigration, I argue that the actual practices of impeding flows of immigration or channeling them through spaces of death have increasingly operated through holey space. If holy space has been defined in studies of religion as a sacred space set apart from mundane rules, then the hol(e)y spaces of immigration are set apart from fixed conceptions of “the rule of law.” A focus on holes shows how the legal order of immigration depends more on exceptions, personalized or arbitrary power, and the instability of interim extra‐legal executive orders than a dichotomy of legal/illegal. Despite their necropolitical power, holes do not create an entirely striated, hierarchical space. Holes are also rings of connection and passageways, highlighting the creativity and agency of asylum seekers in forging dignity under extremely difficult conditions.

Migrants as subject-citizens: Identity affirmation and domestic concealment among Venezuelans living in Santiago, Chile

Over the past decade, Chile has become an important destination for Latin American and Caribbean migrants. In 2022, more than 8% of the population residing in the country were of foreign origin. Since 2018, Venezuelans have been the largest immigrant group, making up 30% of all international migrants living in Chile. This article explores how Venezuelan migrants become citizen-subjects through their residential practices, that is, through actions that symbolically construct their inhabited spaces (neighborhood and housing). Understanding citizenship as a process that implies the ethical formation of the self as a construction of new forms of belonging and political membership, we show how the daily life of these migrants is traversed by tensions surrounding their identity: while in public space they openly affirm their identity as diasporic Venezuelans, in the domestic sphere they hide said identity to accommodate an ideal of citizenship inspired by notions of civility, compliance, and moderation.

Positive Social Interaction and Psychological Kinship Mediate the Effect of Identity Fusion on Psychological Well-Being in South-South Migrants

The present study provides evidence of how positive social interaction and the perception of psychological kinship are mechanisms by which identity fusion with the host country is associated with the psychological well-being of Venezuelan migrants in Chile. The sample consisted of 323 Venezuelan migrants, of whom 147 (45.5%) were men. The participants were residents of the city of Santiago, Chile. The variables assessed were psychological well-being, identity fusion with host country, positive social interaction, and psychological kinship. Structural equation modeling was performed to estimate the proposed mediation model. The estimation method used was robust weighted least squares estimation. The first model showed that people who felt more fused with the host country had higher levels of psychological well-being. On the other hand, the second estimated model indicated that both positive social interaction and psychological kinship fully mediate the relationship between identity fusion with the host country and immigrants’ psychological well-being. It is not the mere sensation of feeling merged with the host country that increases the psychological well-being of migrants, but rather it is the positive social interactions and feeling that members of the host country are like family that are the components that link the fusion with the host country and the psychological well-being of Venezuelan migrants in Chile.

Venezuelan Migration, COVID-19 and Food (in)Security in Urban Areas of Ecuador

The forced migration of nearly 6 million Venezuelans is a global issue that is transforming urban contexts, particularly in Latin America. Ecuador is the third main recipient country of displaced Venezuelans. The lack of State migration policies and the deteriorating economic situation throughout the region have had significant impacts on migrants. While food security and migration have been studied extensively in Latin America, their intersection remains under-explored. Through a systematic review and focus group research, this exploratory study analyzes the food security conditions of Venezuelans in Ecuador and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the levels of food insecurity using an intersectional approach. Quantitative, systematic review results demonstrate that demands for food assistance outweighed the planning and provisions supplied by both state and non-state actors. Focus groups results support the findings from the systematic review and demonstrate that in the medium-sized port cities of Manta and Machala, food demands during the pandemic lockdown measures were met through the direct food supply and resilience strategies, including the securing of personal loans and bartering. In contrast, in the cities of Quito and Huaquillas, strict enforcement of COVID-19 lockdown measures, reduced access to work and systematic food access and increased reliance on food assistance from non-governmental actors. This study also found that the impacts of food (in)security in the context of COVID-19 disproportionately affected women in all cities, as they offered their food rations to meet the needs of their children, grandchildren, or other dependents.

The Work, Economic, and Remittance Stress and Distress of the COVID-19 Pandemic Containment Policies: The Case of Venezuelan Migrants in Argentina and Chile.

According to the social stress process model, global crises are macro-level stressors that generate physiological stress and psychological distress. However, existing research has not identified immigrants' COVID-19 containment policy stressors or examined the social stress of sending remittances amid crises. Drawing on in-depth longitudinal interviews with 46 Venezuelan immigrants-half before and half during the pandemic-in Chile and Argentina, we identified the COVID-19 containment policies' stressors. We focused on Venezuelan immigrants because they constitute one of the largest internationally displaced populations, with most migrating within South America. We found that the governmental COVID-19 containment measures in both countries generated four stressors: employment loss, income loss, devaluation of employment status, and inability to send needed remittances. Moreover, sending remittances helped some migrants cope with concerns about loved ones in Venezuela. However, sending remittances became a social stressor when immigrants struggled to simultaneously sustain their livelihoods and send financial support to relatives experiencing hardships in Venezuela. For some immigrants, these adversities generated other stressors (e.g., housing instability) and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Broadly, for immigrants, the stressors of global crises transcend international borders and generate high stress, which strains their psychological well-being.

Understanding the global patterns of Venezuelan migration: determinants of an expanding diaspora

ABSTRACT The economic, political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela intensified since 2015 and has led to the largest migration crisis in the region’s modern history. In parallel, the composition of the major destination countries has changed fundamentally. This paper investigates the factors determining the choice of destination country of Venezuelan migrants in the pre- and post-2015 period. Exploiting the United Nations migration dataset (for 230 countries from 1990 to 2017), we apply a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator to a modified gravity model of migration. The results suggest that Venezuelans were generally choosing a certain destination country based on economic criteria in times of relative stability (1990 to 2015). However, this determinant loses its importance during times of crisis (2015 to 2017), when Venezuelans were primarily immigrating to geographically proximate nations. Consistently for both periods Venezuelans appear to migrate in larger numbers to destinations with an already established network of compatriots.