Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

Journal of Latino-Latin American Studies

Volume

12

Issue

1: Special Issue

First Page

1

Last Page

15

Abstract

The continuous large-scale process of human mobility from Venezuela can be attributed to recent years’ political and economic instability; the related, and unprecedented, humanitarian crisis; and the widespread suppression of civil liberties by an autocratic regime that remains in power (Freier et al., 2022; Vera et al., 2021; Freier and Doña-Reveco, 2022). It has been more than a decade since Anitza Freitez (2011: 11) argued that leaving the country, whether temporarily or permanently, had already become commonplace for Venezuelans to cope with the “structural problems affecting the daily survival”. As a result, as Venezuelan groups and individuals became more visible in their new “host” communities across the Americas, so did the use of the term “Venezuelan Migration” as a singular umbrella term to embed Venezuelan cross-border mobilities with issues related to security, economic development, humanitarianism, and foreign policy. The term has continued to dominate rhetoric from policymakers, international organizations, the media, and academics. However, the indiscriminate and repeated use of such terminology imposes significant constraints in the understanding of the situation, which oftentimes perpetuates disparities between the diverse forms of mobility that exist in this case. Therefore, a comprehensive examination and reflection on the definition and scope of “Venezuelan Migration” is essential to both understand the complexity of the phenomenon and to improve the analysis to devise viable ways of political and scholarly action.

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