Immunization of mobility, “health corridor” and movement control in times of COVID-19 Inmunización de la movilidad, “corredor sanitario” y control del movimiento en tiempos de COVID-19

BASUALDO, LOURDES

Estudios Fronterizos

Universidad Autonoma de Baja California

Lugar: Guadalajara; Año: 2023 vol. 24 p. 1 - 25

This article aims to analyze certain changes experienced in movement control policies in the South American space in times of border closures produced by the arrival of COVID-19. Specifically, it investigates the emergence and political production of the air “sanitary corridor”. It is argued that the main transformations have been associated with the deployment of a variety of immunization of mobility practices aimed at classifying, filtering and channeling immunized mobilities and infectious mobilities in a context of border closures. Through a qualitative methodology that articulates documentary analysis and an interview with an official of Administración Nacional de Aviación Civil (Argentina), it shows that the legitimization of the “sanitary corridor” has been associated with its production as a response to the COVID-19 “crises” and its capacity to attend the mandate of “global health security”, the economic narratives in favor of the reactivation of mobility, and the nationalist logics that consider the virus as a threat to security and public health.