Venezuelans and Argentina's Migration Policy: Does Geopolitics Matter?”

BOTTO, MERCEDES

Toronto

Workshop; "Complex migration motivations: Venezuelan pathways in Latin America & the Caribbean"; 2024

Cátedra de investigación de excelencia en migración e integración de la Universidad Metropolitana de Toronto

The massive exodus of Venezuelan citizens has marked a significant milestone in Latin America's migratory dynamics. This phenomenon, with almost 8 million displaced people, has considerably altered migratory flows and regional dynamics. Historically, Venezuela and Argentina used to be major destinations for intraregional migration. Today, however, Venezuelan emigration has become the main migratory flow in the region, causing tensions in the migration and asylum systems.Most of these displaced individuals -about 80%- live in Latin American countries and border areas, mainly concentrated in countries such as Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Brazil. Argentina is positioned as the sixth place of preference and reception for Venezuelans, with approximately 217.700 registered according to the RV4 platform.Argentina's migratory tradition has experienced several waves of migration throughout its history, from European migration between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, permanent migration from neighboring countries, Asian migration between 1990 and 2010, and the most recent migration from Venezuela (Botto & Golbert, 2020). The reason why Venezuelans choose Argentina is because of the relative ease of obtaining residency and the associated benefits, such as having access to quality education (Pacecca & Liguori, 2019).The objective of this study is to analyze the integration process of the Venezuelan community in Argentina, identifying the determinants of its success. The academic debate on the processes of migratory inclusion has evolved over time, from assimilationist approaches to more integrative and pluralistic perspectives (Sole, 2002).