A MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAS VOLUME 29 • SUMMER 2020 • LACC.FIU.EDU

Migrations: The Hardships of Hope

Hemisphere Volume 29 1 DIALOGUE ACADEMIA DISSEMINATE LINKAGES BUSINESS MEDIA TOPICS Hemisphere LEARN INDUSTRYDEBATEETHICS VOLUME 29 • SUMMER 2020 • LACC.FIU.EDU INFORMATION CONTENT DEPTH

CULTURE INVESTIGATION STATISTICS UNRAVEL LOCATION IN THIS ISSUE CULTIVATE TRAINING EXCHANGE POLICY REVEAL SPARK NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT INTERPRET INTERNATIONAL REALITY EDUCATION FREEDOM FINANCE NETWORKS ILLUMINATE TEACH DECIPHER BEATS MIGRATIONS: THE HARDSHIPS OF HOPE INTERPRETATION GOVERNMENT EXPLAIN ILLUMINATE

EXAMINATION PUBLISHING RELIABLE FORUM LEADERSHIP INTERACTIVE LETTER FROM THE EDITOR SOURCES RESEARCH Frank O. Mora...... 3 LETTER FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Luis G. Solís...... 4 TRUTH

EXPOSE FEATURE New Forms of Political Banishment: Central American Migration as Political Response José Miguel Cruz...... 6 LACC: REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT The Venezuelan Migratory Crisis and Its Impact on Colombia Celebrating Over Forty Years of Excellence Francesca Ramos Pismataro & Ronal F. Rodríguez ...... 13 Working hard to ensure that people following Latin America and the Caribbean Bolivian Immigration in Argentina: Continuity or Change? have access to dependable, accurate and current information about the issues Roberto Benencia...... 16 that matter most. Unexpected Guests: Cuban and Haitian Migrants in Costa Rica, 2015-2017 LACC supports enhanced understanding of hemispheric politics, business, Luis G. Solís...... 18 society and culture through: Opportunities and Challenges for Haitian Migrants in Chile n Academic research and teaching by more than 200 LACC faculty experts Roody Reserve...... 21 n High-quality analysis available as events unfold Migration from Nicaragua to Costa Rica and the Impact of COVID-19 (2018-2020) n Interdisciplinary projects that reach audiences across the globe Alberto Cortés Ramos...... 23 n Critical training programs to educate a new generation of leaders BROADER TRENDS Population Movements and Climate Change Gabriela Hoberman & Juan Pablo Sarmiento...... 28 Women Migrants in Latin America: Following World Trends? Alejandra Mora Mora...... 30 South Florida: HIV/Drug Epidemics, Immigrant Ethnic Sexual Minorities and Tourism José Félix Colón Burgos...... 33 Forging linkages across the Americas through education, research, outreach, and dialogue.

lacc.fiu.edu @FIULACC /FIULACC Hemisphere FROM THE EDITOR Dear Hemisphere readers: EDITORIAL STAFF In recent years, the structural drivers and human stories of mass migration from Central America and Venezuela Founding Editor Anthony P. Maingot have been the subject of much discussion in academic, policy and media circles. The tragedy of nearly two million Editor Frank O. Mora Venezuelans leaving their homeland during a humanitarian crisis and scenes of Central American women and children fleeing the crime and violence of their countries on a long and dangerous journey to reach the United Guest Editor Luis G. Solís States have captured the attention of the world. In fact, however, migration has long been part of the political, Associate Editor Liesl Picard social and humanitarian landscape of the Americas. Hemisphere has delved into this critical issue from different perspectives, always examining the problem beyond the high-profile cases covered by the media. In this issue, guest Copy Editor Alisa Newman editor Luis Guillermo Solis, former president of Costa Rica and incoming interim director of LACC, has convened Graphic Designer Oscar Negret a multidisciplinary group of scholars to examine a range of topics that may not attract wide public attention but are

Production Manager Yessy Abolila significant to individuals and societies that find themselves poor and disenfranchised by conditions outside of their control. I am grateful to President Solis and the contributors for their work in rescuing these important accounts. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD I would also like to thank the many people who have made my seven years as director of LACC such a productive and gratifying experience. FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg, Provost Ken Furton and the university’s senior David Barton Bray Ana María Bidegain leadership understood our ambitious goals and gave us their unfailing support. A few years ago, we were designated José Miguel Cruz Jorge Duany Javier Francisco-Ortega Eduardo A. Gamarra by the Provost as an Emerging Preeminent Program. Important resources have accompanied this designation, A. Douglas Kincaid Sarah J. Mahler allowing us to make strategic investments such as faculty cluster hires to help build the Brazil Studies Institute. Andrea Mantell Seidel Félix E. Martín Dean John Stack was a stalwart of support; I will be forever grateful for all that he did for me professionally and for Bianca Premo Allan Rosenbaum Mark B. Rosenberg Richard Tardanico ensuring that LACC remained one of the top Latin American and Caribbean Centers in the United States. Dean Victor M. Uribe-Uran Stack’s support is one of the key reasons why LACC, in the last two cycles, was funded and designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Resource Center for Latin America. Finally, I’d like to thank the wonderful team at LACC. Associate Director Liesl Picard’s professionalism, Hemisphere (ISSN 08983038) is published once a year by the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, Florida International University. Copyright © 2020 by the leadership and dedication to our missions and goals is the reason LACC is among the top centers. It has been a Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University. All rights reserved. Printed in the pleasure to see the growth of our research agenda under the leadership of the indefatigable Dr. José Miguel Cruz. United States of America. I am grateful to Rossie Montenegro for ensuring that I stayed out of trouble and for making sure, along with the Hemisphere is dedicated to provoking debate on the problems, initiatives, and achievements of the Americas. Responsibility rest of the LACC team – Joseph Holbrook, Viroselie Caviedes, Lindsay Dudley, Madelyn Tirado, Dr. María Luisa for the views expressed lies solely with the authors. Editorial, Circulation and Advertising Offices: Kimberly Green Latin Veisaga, Marielena Armstrong and FIU’s extraordinary faculty and students – that LACC remain an extraordinary American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, DM 353, Miami, Florida, 33199, Tel.: 305-348-2894, Fax: 305-348-3953, E-mail: [email protected], http://lacc.fiu.edu, @fiulacc place to work and study.

Frank O. Mora Director & Professor COVER IMAGE and Page 5: A migrant family runs over the border from Tijuana, Mexico, hoping for a better life Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center in the US. The border post is the busiest in the country for illegal and legal immigration from Mexico and Central Florida International University America. PER-ANDERS PETTERSSON/Getty Images.

Hemisphere Volume 29 5 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR

For decades, Hemisphere has been a source of relevant information for anyone interested in Latin American and Caribbean affairs. Through the years, this emblematic publication of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center has provided a fresh, solid and sometimes daring perspective on the region. The present issue contributes to this scholarly tradition by analyzing one of the most pressing and complex humanitarian and geopolitical phenomena confronting the Americas today: migration. Migration has been a permanent reality for countries and regions around the world for thousands of years. The result of war, pandemics, natural disasters, internal conflicts, economic deprivation, hunger and the legitimate desire of people to seek a better future for themselves and their families, migration occurs when human populations are forced to endure unacceptable living conditions. In ordinary times, most people prefer to dwell in familiar surroundings. Even when facing significant survival challenges, social groups do not easily abandon their national or regional contexts to risk the perils that migration implies. The uncertainties they face when arriving at their destination and the terrible circumstances in which they may be forced to live are additional disincentives for leaving home and family behind. Even then, however, people migrate. In recent years, they have done so by the millions, with especially significant flows coming from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, the Andean region and Central America’s “Northern Triangle.” The numbers are testimony of the dire conditions that pervade the economies and political systems of many nations in this hemisphere. It is also a reminder of the vital need for international solidarity in dealing with the massive displacement of vulnerable populations and putting an end to one of its most perverse yet profitable expressions: human trafficking. This is particularly true for the United States, the preferred destination for many migrants, especially those from this hemisphere. Other countries too, however – Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile and Argentina – have become home to millions seeking refuge from oppression, insecurity, hunger and the ravaging effects of unemployment, corruption and climate change. This issue of Hemisphere analyzes some of the most salient cases of migration in the Americas. In addition to probing the causes of population movements, it provides elements to better understand their impact in volatile environments further exacerbated by the still unknown long-term effects of COVID-19. I hope that through this exercise, our readers will be able to better understand this continental phenomenon and fathom its enduring significance for Latin America and the Caribbean. In closing, I would like to thank Frank Mora for his leadership during the last seven years as director of LACC and the many contributions he made during his tenure. Frank brought LACC to new heights, ratifying its standing as one of the most distinguished regional studies programs in the United States. We wish him much success!

Luis G. Solís Visiting Distinguished Professor of Latin American Studies Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center Florida International University

6 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 7 FEATURE Feature

local political systems to respond to the needs of vulnerable populations New Forms of Political Banishment: while perpetuating inequity and impunity.

The focus of this article is the Central American Migration as so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, a subregion comprised of Guatemala, Honduras Political Response and El Salvador and the origin of by José Miguel Cruz the recent migrant caravans to the Desahuciado está el que tiene que marchar United States. The main source of a vivir una cultura diferente. evidence is a pilot study conducted León Gieco by Florida International University’s Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) of nearly The Story of Diana in a society with functioning family out of the country. In her 120 Central American migrants who In early 2019, Diana, a 32-year- law enforcement institutions: retelling of the experience, Diana left their countries in 2019 to travel old woman living in a town in She reported the assault and acknowledged that she used to to the United States and Mexico. central Honduras, was forced to extortion scheme to the police. deride people who migrated north. Two-thirds of the respondents were She thought then that her country, leave the country abruptly. She fled What happened next reveals the citizens of Honduras, while the broken state of the Honduran despite its chronic problems, A Honduran child and her mother, fleeing poverty and violence in their home country, wait with her partner and four children rest came from El Salvador and establishment: The police leaked provided opportunities to everyone along the border bridge after being denied entry from Mexico into the U.S. on June 25, 2018 after she was gang-raped and her Guatemala. The sample included in Brownsville, Texas. More than 2,300 immigrant children were separated from their parents the report to MS-13, and that same who wanted to work and could partner badly beaten by the local very few Nicaraguans. Participants due to the Trump Administration’s zero-tolerance policy for border crossers, which has since been night, the gang came to Diana's navigate insecurity. Her experience clique of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). were interviewed in migrant and reversed. SPENCER PLATT/Getty Images house. After assaulting her and her was a painful lesson that put an end Diana owned a small but thriving refugee centers in the Mexican cities partner, they evicted the family from to this illusion. of Tapachula, Toluca and Mexico or attacks by criminal groups, as American countries, especially roadside shop. Business activity their own home. City in August 2019. their main reason for leaving their those in the Northern Triangle, started to decline, however, when This article addresses the the country was paralyzed due to countries. A significant portion of struggled to generate sustainable Leaving with the few things they problematic of “unconventional” A staggering surge in migration recurrent demonstrations against the could gather that night, the family outmigration from Central America. the interviewees, 28.5% – most of economic growth. Honduras, government. Hondurans had taken joined one of the migrant caravans The phenomenon grabbed the Diana’s case is a representative them from the Northern Triangle, which did not experience civil to the streets to protest the decision headed to the United States. During world’s attention in 2018, when example of the ordeals suffered by ranging in age from 18 to 72 – also war in the 1980s, was especially to privatize the public health system the strenuous journey, they were thousands of Central American many of the Central Americans who pointed to lack of opportunity, hard hit by a combination of and the alleged electoral fraud that repeatedly assaulted and abused citizens, mainly from Honduras, have flocked to the US-Mexican unemployment, poverty and weak and exclusionary economic secured a new presidential term for by criminals and the authorities Guatemala and El Salvador, border in recent years. According food insecurity. performance and natural disasters. President Juan Orlando Hernández. alike in Honduras, Guatemala and banded together in large groups to to data from the Migration Policy According to a study published in Mexico. Diana developed a medical travel in caravans through Mexico Institute, in fiscal year 2018 the As noted earlier, Central American The Latin Americanist, the number The gang had been extorting condition that forced them to pause toward the United States. Central US Customs and Border Patrol migration to the United States of Honduran immigrants in the Diana and her partner for several their journey and seek medical Americans, however, have been apprehended more than 38,000 is not a new phenomenon. The United States swelled from 109,000 months, demanding monthly assistance in Mexico City, where she leaving their homelands in large unaccompanied children and Migration Policy Institute estimates in 1990 to nearly 300,000 in 2000, protection payments. When retail underwent surgery. numbers for several decades. While nearly 104,000 people traveling that in 2017, more than 3.5 million approaching half a million in 2009. sales dropped in the shop, Diana the immediate causes of emigration in family groups from El Salvador, Central America immigrants lived in The numbers surged even more in turned to a loan shark for cash. As Recounting this harrowing have shifted across time, they reflect Guatemala and Honduras. Those the United States. Salvadorans and 2014, when a paper in the Journal business continued to deteriorate, experience months later in a migrant structural problems of poverty numbers tripled the following Guatemalans constituted the largest of Human Rights and Social Work she defaulted on a payment to refugee center in Mexico, Diana and inequality. These issues have year. During the first nine months groups: 1.4 million and nearly one reported that apprehensions of MS-13. In response, gang members was upset by her gullibility in prevailed in the region for years, of fiscal year 2019, the border million, respectively. Some migrated unaccompanied children had risen assaulted her partner and took his trusting the Honduran police. She aggravated by chronic political patrol stopped more than 350,000 to the United States during the civil 77% from the previous year. Arrests motorcycle, warning the couple not felt betrayed by the authorities that instability and autocratic regimes migrants traveling in family groups wars and political conflicts that of family groups went from 14,855 to default again. Then, distressed were supposed to protect civilians. that, in turn, contribute to fuel from the Northern Triangle. ravaged the region during the 1980s, in 2013 to 68,445 in 2014, a 361% by the deteriorating economic Ultimately, it was the corruption the diaspora. The recent surge in According to the LACC pilot study, but in the decades that followed, as increase. The largest groups of situation, Diana did something and ineffectiveness of the country’s Central American emigration can nearly 46% of respondents cited the political instability subsided, a immigrants were Hondurans that would be normal procedure institutions that pushed the be viewed as a result of the failure of security reasons, including threats new type of crisis emerged. Central and Salvadorans.

8 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 9 Feature

Although immigration from charging monthly fees to allow migrate from the formal sector of the Northern Triangle of Central their distributors and employees to the economy, where they paid taxes America has experienced some circulate in gang-controlled territory. and had social security benefits, cyclical trends since 2015, it According to InSight Crime, a news toward activities characterized by has never stopped, and the outlet that reports on security and informality, job uncertainty and overall numbers keep growing in organized crime in the region, low wages. Substantial cuts in comparison with immigrants from Salvadorans pay approximately $400 public expenditures slashed social other Latin American regions. million in extortion fees to such programs in education, housing and Furthermore, as the Pew Research groups every year. Hondurans pay healthcare that could have mitigated Center has reported, most of the nearly $200 million and Guatemalans, the harsh social conditions faced newcomers are undocumented $61 million. by underprivileged populations. immigrants. Dispossessed Guatemalans, Indicators of lethal violence are Hondurans and Salvadorans arrived Permanent vital emergency even worse. Over the last decade, at the new millennium without McAllen, Texas-September 21, 2016: A Border Patrol agent takes a group of Central Americans into custody for illegally crossing the Rio Grande into according to the United Nations, the human and social capital to the U.S. A flood of mothers with children and unaccompanied minors from Central America fleeing gang violence began crossing illegally in 2016. Most explanations of the current the homicide rate in the Northern VICHINTERLANG/iStock by Getty Images. migrant crisis originating in Central overcome the natural disasters Triangle nations has surpassed and recession of the late 2000s. America focus on the recurring 40 per 100,000 inhabitants. In political system has set it apart from institutional failures that have political systems throughout history, economic and security issues in According to different sources, by 2013-2015, it was closer to 100 the mid-2000s, approximately half its neighbors. Corrupt national curbed and sidetracked the societal especially in the Northern Triangle. the region. More than 40 years per 100,000 in El Salvador and leadership, weak institutions and a transformations that were the goal Many citizens in Central America ago, Ignacio Martín-Baró, a social of the populations of El Salvador, Honduras. In comparison, the Guatemala and Honduras remained lack of accountability of the security of political liberalization. saw the political transitions as a psychologist assassinated by the average global homicide rate in forces have depleted national historic opportunity to construct Salvadoran army, described most below their national poverty lines. 2017 was 6.1 per 100,000. In With those levels of poverty, as resources and thwarted efforts to The comprehensive political new societies, not merely as an Central Americans as living in a the 2010s, the murder rate in the establish the rule of law. These transitions of the 1990s are a arrangement between disaffected permanent state of vital emergency. Diana’s case illustrates, any minor Northern Triangle was consistently disruption on the economic front shortcomings were on full display critical feature of Central America’s elites to end armed conflicts. In the Social and economic conditions seven times higher than in the rest in the events leading up to the 2009 recent history. Those transitions mid-1990s, there was a generalized pushed them to a daily scramble poses a direct threat to survival for of the world. many citizens. coup d’état and they have continued were marked by promising peace feeling in Central America that for survival, a situation that many to pervade society since then. In processes and institutional reforms ending the wars and restoring—or observers blamed for the devastating On the economic front, Political failure response, Hondurans have turned to that ended military dictatorships establishing—democratic regimes civil wars of the 1980s. structural reform and international the same solution their Guatemalan and bloody internal conflicts. They offered an opportunity to rebuild cooperation programs have failed Chronic violence, unemployment and Salvadoran neighbors have used were supposed to pave the way for the region, not only materially and Today, impoverished to create sustainable economic and poverty are not the only issues for decades: emigration. democratization. In Guatemala and economically, but also socially and Guatemalans, Hondurans and growth in any of the Northern pushing Central Americans out El Salvador, elections and limited culturally. Many Central Americans Salvadorans continue to flee from Triangle countries. Efforts to of their homelands. Behind the In the 1990s, the Northern alternation of power started in the shared a sense of optimism about violence, financial hardship and revamp their economies after the massive migrant caravans that Triangle countries became electoral mid-1980s, but reforms aimed to the future. In fact, the Salvadoran lack of opportunity. The Northern “lost decade” of the 1980s have disrupted the region in 2018 is a democracies, reformed their criminal guarantee human rights and the government has estimated that Triangle nations remain poor, with done little to alleviate the economic profound sense of political and justice institutions and opened rule of law were not implemented during the first 14 months following per capita GDP below $5,000, and insecurity of a majority of Central social failure. Ninety-one percent their economies in an attempt to until the 1990s as a direct result of the end of the civil war, more than are besieged by staggering levels of American citizens. Although the of respondents in the LACC study boost development and prosperity. political pacts and peace agreements 300,000 Salvadorans living abroad criminal violence. Street gangs and economic reforms promoted by the said that the political systems of Political reforms sought to establish between the national governments returned home, eager to rebuild violent criminal organizations rule Washington Consensus stabilized their countries did not protect the appropriate institutions to and leftist guerrillas. In Honduras, their lives in the country. city neighborhoods, towns and vast public finances and generated their fundamental rights as citizens. strengthen the rule of law, guarantee the military renounced control over rural areas. A 2015 study by the modest economic growth, they Among Hondurans, the percentage human rights protections, and make the Executive Branch in the early Almost from the start, however, Salvadoran government concluded failed to increase the fiscal capacity was 96%. political institutions more responsive 1980s but remained a dominant holdovers and operators from that nearly 500,000 of the country’s of governments to respond to the to the demands and needs of force in charge of the security the old regimes began eroding citizens were associated with gangs demands of the population. Instead Hondurans have accounted for the population. The recent surge apparatus through 1998, when this the new institutional framework. and criminal groups. Funded largely of ensuring wealth and economic most of the spikes in the migrant of families and unaccompanied power was handed to civilians. They found common cause in by extortion, these groups target stability for the majority of citizens, caravans from Central America. Like minors flooding the border has corrupt politicians, past human mostly poor urban barrios, demanding the massive privatization of state- the other Northern Triangle nations, called into question the success of The fundamental goal of the peace rights abusers, and economic elites a “security” fee from grocery stores, owned companies left thousands Honduras has been beset by social those reforms. The mass migration processes was to curb the state’s interested in maintaining their family businesses and small farmers. of workers unemployed. Many problems and natural disasters, but of Hondurans, Guatemalans power to tyrannize the population, privileges and impunity. The new They also tax big companies by skilled employees were forced to the critical dysfunctionality of its and Salvadorans is linked to the a hallmark of Central American regimes implemented the reforms

10 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 11 Feature Feature

more in form than in substance. system altogether if the expected political institutions and events. It Table 1. Percentage of Central Americans expressing support for the political system Very few military operators faced trials changes do not occur and hope is a regional project, unique in its for reform is lost. Democratic Opinions Migrant El Salvador Guatemala Honduras for past human rights abuses, while scope, nature and commitment to the sample some joined the ranks of criminal political systems with functioning scientific method. The surveys from organizations. Impunity served institutions provide plenty of space which these data are drawn were Diffuse support them well. Liberalization of electoral for voice. They generally respond carried out in the three Northern Believe that citizens’ basic rights are well protected by the 6.0 26.8 26.3 23.9 competition with weak accountability to expectations for change or infuse Triangle countries with samples of political system of their country mechanisms allowed crooked people with hope that specific more than 1,500 interviewees per Respect the political institutions of their country 25.9 64.7 58.8 48.8 politicians to run for office under reforms and policies are possible. country. Since the LACC pilot study Feel proud to live under the political system of their country 8.6 36.4 37.0 32.1 the protection of economic elites. Other political systems, however, on migration used the same questions Once in power, they took advantage are more prone to push their as the AB survey, the results allow Believe one should support the political system 22.9 56.1 58.7 44.9 of the Washington Consensus people out because they convince for a direct comparison between Believe that the courts in their home country guarantee a fair trial 7.6 26.4 27.7 25.3 reforms to hand over the most their constituents that desirable the opinions of Central American Specific support improvements are unattainable. migrants in transit in Mexico and profitable state companies to their Trust the President of their home country 11.2 27.3 23.3 28.0 cronies and dismantle most regulatory They end up alienating citizens to their compatriots interviewed by and accountability institutions. the point that significant changes are Vanderbilt University in their Trust the National Congress in their home country 6.0 31.9 28.7 25.7 no longer feasible. home countries. Although the Trust the Armed Forces in their home country 13.5 56.8 60.0 47.4 In the end, political reform failed LACC sample is not representative Trust the National Police in their home country 7.7 44.4 30.9 33.8 to strengthen institutions, reduce Many Central Americans who of the Central American migrant impunity or curtail the exclusionary have joined the ranks of migrants population as a whole, it provides a Trust political parties in their home country 8.5 17.1 25.9 16.2 effects of economic policies. toward the United States and Mexico window onto the political views of Trust the electoral process in their home country 12.6 38.3 31.6 21.7 Many Salvadorans—followed by are not only fleeing chronic poverty people who leave their countries in and violence; in addition to these comparison with those who stay. Sources: LAPOP, Statistical Compendium 2018/2019. Weighted Tabulations of Core Variables. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2018/ Guatemalans and Hondurans— Statistical_Compendium_2018-19_W_10.22.19.pdf: LACC, Central American Migration Pilot Study. Preliminary Results. turned their sights back to the factors, they have given up hope that north, to the United States. By the national institutions will respond to Table 1 compares the results of 2010s, Salvadorans constituted the their plight and work for their safety the migrant sample in the LACC average citizen in the Northern and their fellow citizens surveyed of confidence in these institutions. second largest community of Latin and well-being. These migrants are pilot study with the national results Triangle countries. While both in their home countries. Another Lawmakers and political parties, American immigrants in the United abandoning political societies that of the AB survey to show the share populations express generally low telling indicator is perceptions of the institutions that are supposed States, after Mexicans. have ignored their problems and of the population expressing trust levels of support for the overall whether the courts in the home to represent the interests of the failed to respect their voices. In the or support for political institutions and specific institutions of their country guarantee a fair trial. Less population, enjoy the lowest Exit as political response LACC study of Central Americans in in each country. The first group of nations, migrants tend to manifest than 8% of the migrants believed levels of trust among Northern transit through Mexico, respondents even lower levels of support for they could expect fair treatment In the late 1970s, Albert O. opinions refers to what David Easton Triangle citizens. typically indicated that they had has called diffuse support for political political institutions than citizens by their countries’ justice systems, Hirschman, a political economist abandoned any hope that their institutions; that is, long-term who have stayed at home. Only indicating profound distrust in Interestingly, the comparison who fled Nazi Germany in the governments or institutions would attitudes toward abstract institutions. 6% of the Central American one of the institutions key to years before the Second World make a difference in their precarious between the AB survey and The second group of opinions taps migrants interviewed in the pilot upholding the rule of law and War, advanced a theory to explain lives. When asked how much they the migrant study also shows a into what he calls specific support study believed that their rights were combatting impunity. substantial gap in confidence in citizens’ responses to political respected the political institutions in protected under the political systems for political institutions, reflecting security forces. While in-home dissatisfaction. He argued that their countries, 68% said that they of their countries, compared to Data on specific institutions show the level of public trust in concrete respondents in the Northern a person dissatisfied with the had little or no respect for them. nearly a quarter of the in-country those contrasts even more clearly. way her country is governed has Among Hondurans, the largest manifestations of the political system: respondents in the Vanderbilt All of the critical components of the Triangle reported limited trust in essentially two options to express group in the sample, this percentage the legislature, the presidency, survey. While most people in political system – the presidency, their national armies and police her discontent. The first one is reached 74.4%. security forces, political parties and the the Northern Triangle expressed legislature, security forces and organizations, migrants graded voice. Through electoral systems electoral apparatus. The results of the disappointment in their political political parties – received dismal them as poorly as they did civilian and periodic voting, citizens can Comparing the results of migrant sample are not disaggregated systems, the rate of disenchantment reviews with regard to public trust. institutions. Diana’s testimonial express their opinions publicly LACC’s migration pilot study with by nationality, given the low was even higher among migrants. According to the AB survey, less helps explain this distrust. Many with the expectation that electing those of Vanderbilt University’s number of cases in the pilot study. With regard to feelings of respect, than one-third of Central Americans Central American refugees are a different ruler or political AmericasBarometer (AB) survey pride and general support for in their home countries trust the fleeing not only ineffectual political program will produce changes in helps shed light on the impact The data in Table 1 reveal a political institutions, the results presidency, the parliament or institutions, but also security the country. The second option of popular disappointment with remarkable contrast between the also show a clear difference between political parties. Nearly all migrants forces that collude with criminal is exit. The citizen may decide to political institutions. The AB survey views of the migrant population the transient sample of Central interviewed for the LACC pilot organizations to prey on the leave the country and its political taps perceptions and opinions of in the pilot study and those of the Americans interviewed in Mexico study, however, indicated their lack most vulnerable.

12 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 13 Feature REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Policy responses? from the Northern Triangle has reaching efforts to uproot corruption The results of the LACC pilot swung between two short-sighted and impunity from key political The Venezuelan Migratory Crisis and study are unambiguous: Many, if not responses. One has been to inject institutions. Plans that favor most, Central American migrants millions of dollars into assistance strengthening security forces to programs for development in the police migrants and the dispossessed seeking to settle in the north have Its Impact on Colombia region. The other is to shut down in their countries of origin should be given up hope in the political the southern border as part of a rejected. They will only add to the by Francesca Ramos Pismataro & Ronal F. Rodríguez institutions of their home countries. wider set of draconian immigration misery of communities besieged by Many come from communities policies. After several decades, well- criminal organizations. controlled by gangs and criminal intentioned aid programs seeking s of April 2020, thanks to the Tarjetas de Movilidad able to obtain the documentation organizations, where they have dramatic short-term outcomes but Doing anything less than nearly one-third, Fronteriza – Border Mobility Cards – necessary for foreign travel. In been continually threatened and lacking proper accountability have addressing the root, institutional or 30.59%, of the issued by the Colombian government early 2020, the official fee for a victimized. These same communities done little except enrich corrupt causes of inequality and crime in Venezuelan population to regulate the legal traffic of Venezuelan passport was US$196, an often suffer from a lack of basic operators in the Northern Triangle. Central America will amount to was in a situation Venezuelans into the country. In impossible figure for most citizens. services, unemployment, protracted The second response, curtailing a decision to continue supporting of human mobility, according to theory, cardholders must remain On the black market, the going price droughts and failed harvests. Those officialA figures from the Colombian within a prescribed radius from the approached US$2,000. As a result, immigration, may have cut down questionable political leaders and leaving home are driven by severe on the numbers of undocumented lining the pockets of criminals. The government and the United Nations. border, but over time many have the only option for most Venezuelans social conditions that threaten their immigrants entering the US, but problem requires a balanced effort This number represents 9,974,515 ventured further afield, reaching as is to cross the border with Colombia, very survival, but failed political it has created a humanitarian crisis that ties traditional development- of the country’s estimated total far as Bogotá, approximately 366 a route increasingly under threat institutions are also a factor. More in Mexico and other neighboring related assistance to forceful population of 32,605,423. Of miles from the frontier. from human trafficking networks. than two decades of political countries. The strains it has created accountability campaigns in the these, 5,093,987 have migrated reforms, economic transformations have resulted in more violence, death public sector. This must include in response to the complex and Venezuela has also experienced Officially, more than 10 million and regular elections peppered by and desperation across the region. an unwavering commitment to prolonged humanitarian emergency a significant wave of internal people have been affected by human occasional political crises have been removing crooked officials and that has afflicted the country in displacement. An undetermined mobility in Venezuela, including unable to guarantee a decent life Washington needs to reshuffle remodeling Central America’s recent years, joining approximately number of people have migrated in migrants, people crossing the border and stable future for most Central its approach to Central American democratic institutions to make 500,000 Colombian citizens who search of scarce goods and services, temporarily, displaced persons and Americans. For many citizens of the immigration. Given the urgent them better capable of fighting had been living in Venezuela paralleling the collapse of the public returnees, but the number could region, emigration seems like the problems of structural inequality injustice, corruption and impunity. but have since returned to their utility infrastrcture (electricity, in fact be much higher, taking only path to survival. and chronic violence in the region, Otherwise, Diana’s experience will country of origin. An additional drinking water, propane). Venezuela’s into account rampant problems the US response should concentrate continue to repeat itself in the 4,880,528 people cross the porous most populous state, Zulia in the with documentation, passports In the United States, the policy on the creation of democratically suffering of thousands of migrants border between Colombia and northwest, has been particularly hard and identification. Colombia is debate about mass immigration accountable institutions and far- and refugees across the region. Venezuela daily, part of a pendular hit by the decline in public services, by far the country most affected migration equivalent to 14.96% of receiving electricity on a rotating six- by the phenomenon: As of April the Venezuelan population. These hour schedule. Daily temperatures 2020, Colombia had an estimated References short-term migrants depend on in the region average around 86º 1,825,687 Venezuelans within its Androff, D. (2016). “The Human Rights Growth from Elsewhere.” Pew Research O’Connor, A., Batalova, J., & Bolter, J. trips to Colombia for basic goods F, making refrigeration impossible. borders. Of these, only 43.78%, of Unaccompanied Minors in the USA Center: 17. (2019). Central American Immigrants and services, staying anywhere from Estimates indicate that around 15% or 799,373, had legalized their from Central America.” Journal of Human in the United States. Migration several hours to several months at of Zulia’s 4.3 million inhabitants status. The remaining 56.21%, or Rights and Social Work 1(2): 71-77. Cruz, J.M. (2015). “The Root Causes of Policy Institute 15 (https://www. a time. Their presence has had a have migrated in three directions: 1,026,305, were in the country the Central American Crisis.” Current migrationpolicy.org/article/central- significant impact on Colombian 1) to other countries; 2) to the state illegally, although undocumented Blanchard, S., Hamilton, E. R., History, 114 (769): 43. american-immigrants-united-states). Rodríguez, N., & Yoshioka, H. (2011). society and the nation’s resources. of Táchira, the easiest crossing point status is not currently a crime “Shifting Trends in Central American Dudley, S. & Lohmuller, M. (2015). UNODC. (2019). Global Study on to the main Colombian border city in Colombia. Migration: A Demographic Examination “Northern Triangle is World’s Extortion Homicide. Homicide Trends, Patterns While Venezuelans who go back of Cúcuta; and 3) to the Venezuelan of Increasing Honduran‐US Immigration Hotspot.” InSight Crime (https://www. and Criminal Justice Response. Vienna: and forth to Colombia cannot strictly capital of Caracas, 433 miles away. Of the legal migrants, 568,330 and Deportation.” The Latin Americanist insightcrime.org/news/brief/northern- United Nations Office on Drugs be considered migrants, given that have a Special Residency Permit 55(4): 61-84. triangle-world-extortion-hotspot/). and Crime. they do not reside definitively in The government of Nicolás (PEP), a temporary status Colombia another country, they reflect the Maduro has limited the rights of has created to protect Venezuelans Cohn, D.V., Passel, J. S., & Gonzalez- Hirschman, A. O. (1978). “Exit, Voice, José Miguel Cruz is a political scientist and dimensions of the phenomenon of Venezuelans to travel internationally who remain in the country for Barrera, A. (2017). “Rise in U.S. and the State.” World Politics 31(1): the director of research at the Kimberly human mobility between these two and attempted to deny the more than 180 days. The permits Immigrants From El Salvador, 90-107. Green Latin American and Caribbean countries. They are also the only phenomenon of human mobility. have been issued at various times, Guatemala and Honduras Outpaces Center at Florida International University. group of Venezuelan migrants for In practice, only those citizens with free of charge and lasting two years. whom official figures are available, sufficient financial resources are In recent years, the Colombian

14 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 15 regional spotlight regional spotlight

immigration agency, Migración Colombian counterparts, obliging between Colombian communities Colombia, has been automatically the government to invest additional and Venezuelan migrants have renewing permits set to expire, in a resources into remedial classes and bubbled over into violence, and display of solidarity with other measures. xenofobia and aporophobia have Venezuelan migrants. become more widespread. Political The situation has been even more actors have emerged to exploit Unlike their counterparts in Chile, complicated when it comes to these fears, which have found fertile Peru or Ecuador, the Colombian health care. The Colombian state ground in a society with its own authorities have realized that it is provides free emergency care to all structural deficits to address. unrealistic to expect Venezuelans residents, regardless of nationality. to produce visas or additional This has been an important lifeline Perhaps the greatest challenge documentation when their permits for Venezuelan migrants, given the is the reluctance to view the flow expire. In addition to granting widespread lack of basic medical of migrants from Venezuela as a permission to be in the country, the services in their country. Non- long-term phenomenon that will PEP gives migrants access to health emergency care remained out of transform Colombian society. care, education and a work permit. reach to most until January 2020, Venezuelan immigrants require The best Venezuelans who migrate when migrants were permitted to sustained measures for socioeconomic to Ecuador and Peru can hope for is access the social security-based and integration. Until now, the a humanitarian visa, issued at a cost subsidized health care systems. As Colombian government and society of US$50 in Ecuador. This amount noted above, PEP holders also have in general have taken an assistance- is out of reach for many migrants the same rights to health care as based and humanitarian approach from Venezuela, where the average Colombian citizens. to the problem. While admirable monthly wage was around US $4.32 in terms of its generosity, this as of May 2020. Colombia is a country without approach lacks a long-term vision. much experience in managing The flood of migrants crossing its The Colombian government has immigration. Its prolonged armed borders represents an opportunity for also begun granting nationality to conflict made it unattractive when Colombia to develop an immigration children born in Colombia between compared to many other South policy that responds to the human 2015 and 2021 to Venezuelan American countries, which saw mobility challenges affecting Latin parents. So far, 27,825 children large waves of immigration in the America today. have benefited from this measure. twentieth century. For decades, the Colombia normally does not follow biggest challenge facing the country References the principle of Jus Soli (birthright was internal migration as a result of Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, citizenship), but given the fact that internal violence, which displaced Colombia. https://www. no Venezuelan consulates have around 7.5 million people. In migracioncolombia.gov.co/noticias. been operational in Colombia since response to the Venezuelan crisis, February 22, 2019, and that the NGOs and Colombian civil groups Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Venezuelan government has denied have joined the government’s efforts Platform for Refugees and Migrants citizenship to some children born to manage the flow of migrants. In from Venezuela. https://r4v.info/en/ across the border, the authorities in the region along the border with situations/platform. Bogotá have opted to award them Venezuela, for example, the Catholic nationality to ensure they are not Church has established soup kitchens Francesca Ramos Pismataro is a professor stateless and that they have access to feed the influx of migrants. One and the director of the Venezuelan to basic rights. Regardless of their such soup kitchen, known as Divina Observatory in the Department of migratory status, all Venezuelan Providencia, employs 300 volunteers International, Political and Urban Studies at children have a right to free education to provide breakfast and lunch to Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia Venezuelan migrants climb on a truck on the road in Colombia, although only about more than 5,000 people each day. from Cúcuta to Pamplona, in Norte de Santander Ronal F. Rodríguez is a professor of Department, Colombia, on February 10, 2019. one-third are estimated to be taking political science and international studies, RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images. advantage of this benefit. In 2019, Generosity has its limits, however, and a researcher and spokesperson forCaption the approximately 198,597 Venezuelan and after more than five years of Venezuelan Observatory in the Department children and teenagers matriculated the migratory crisis Colombian of International, Political and Urban into Colombian schools. Many of society is beginning to show signs Studies at Universidad del Rosario, them were significantly behind their of compassion fatigue. Tensions Bogotá, Colombia.

16 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 17 regional spotlight

Bolivian Immigration in Argentina: Continuity or Change? by Roberto Benencia

mmigration to Argentina the need for unskilled workers in in the elevated numbers that might from the Plurinational State Argentina’s cities. have been expected. Despite of Bolivia, while a later offering even fewer possibilities for phenomenon than the waves Starting in the late 1960s, employment than Paraguay, due of Bolivian immigration to the growing mechanization of to higher urban unemployment other countries in the region, has production processes – especially in and underemployment rates, as Dancing woman in traditional dress celebrate Bolivian Carnival in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 21, 2018. Despite a long history of Bolivian Ibeen one of the most successful in the sugar industry – and lower prices well as a more limited agricultural migration to Argentina and associated adaptation, Bolivian migrants young and old still make an effort to preserve and practice their culture and terms of the migrants’ prospects in for many regional products began sector, Bolivia had a higher rate of traditions. NATALIA SO/iStock by Getty Images. the host country, particularly with to reorient regional migration flows, internal vs foreign migration. One regard to the variety of occupations leading workers to look beyond explanation, the authors suggested, they have been able to pursue there. traditional cross-border migration is that Bolivia shares a much shorter the land and constituting a basic well – are more evenly distributed of migrants from Italy, Portugal to the opportunities presented by border with Argentina than do Chile impediment to labor mobility. around the country. Bolivians and Japan. Until the mid twentieth century, the Buenos Aires metropolitan and Paraguay. As a result, a smaller It wasn’t until the 1970s that participate in a wide variety of intra-regional migration in Latin area, especially in the construction portion of the Bolivian population Bolivia began to see an increase in occupations, including agricultural Over time, a minority of Bolivian America was characterized by sector. By 1970, more than one- is exposed directly to cross-border internal migration, a phenomenon and clothing production, food and agricultural workers have risen movements between neighboring third of Bolivians in Argentina pull. In fact, residents of this border already commonplace in Chile and clothing sales, construction work from the category of simple peons and domestic service. Wherever to owning their own land and, in countries, by rural-rural or rural- were concentrated in Buenos Aires, region account for the bulk of Paraguay. In the authors’ study, 41% of interdepartmental migration they settle, they make an effort to some cases, have become wholesale urban flows, and was often seasonal with Argentina’s 1980 census Bolivian migrants to Argentina. in Bolivia had occurred between preserve their culture, celebrating distributors of fruit and vegetables. in nature. Argentina has long been showing that, for the first time, 1971 and 1976. traditional holidays and wearing Some have even been able to break a central pole of attraction for these more Bolivian migrants resided Marshall and Orlansky identified their traditional dress. away from crop production, a flows. Bolivia, although an exporter in that city than in the country’s additional elements contributing to In contrast to migrants from other physically demanding occupation of people to neighboring lands for northeast (Salta and Jujuy). Their migration, among them a tradition neighboring countries (especially Fruit and vegetable production that exposes its practitioners to centuries, saw such outflows pick up exact numbers, however, have been of emigration to a particular Paraguay and Uruguay), who tend is one of the main activities of dangerous agricultural chemicals. significantly in the 1950s, spurred more difficult to determine, given destination, especially in association to concentrate in Buenos Aires Bolivian migrants in Argentina. In In particular, the children of by changes brought about by the the universal challenge of counting with certain economic activities. and its metropolitan area, the agricultural areas serving the Greater Bolivian agricultural workers often 1952 revolution and the wave of undocumented immigrants. These activities in turn often have a 2010 Argentine census and many Buenos Aires region and, indeed, express a strong desire to seek other import substitution industrialization multiplying effect that draws other studies have found that Bolivian around the country, Bolivians have employment, and many in Argentina. To understand what draws migrants from the sending country. immigrants – despite the fact become the primary workforce, have succeeded. migrants from other Latin American Finally, factors such as wage that many settle in these areas as gradually replacing previous waves In this context, Bolivian migration countries to Argentina, Adriana differences between the sending and to Argentina was fueled by regional Marshall and Dora Orlansky (1983) receiving country, and immigration References economic growth and expansion conducted a comparative study of policy toward migrants from specific around the 1930s, bringing with Bolivia­n, Chilean and Paraguay­ countries, also play an important Ardaya Salinas, Gloria (1978). “Inserción globalización.” Alternativas Sur III (1). Pellegrino A. (2004). Migration from socio‑ocupacional de los inmigrantes it a growing demand for rural an immigration to that country role in population movements. Hinojosa, Alfonso (ed.) (2004). Latin America to Europe:Trends and Policy labor. In northeastern Argentina, in 1970-1976. After interviewing bolivianos en la Argentina.” (Master’s Thesis, FLACSO, Buenos Aires. Migraciones transnacionales. Visiones de Challenges. Migrations Research Series, for example, the sugarcane and migrants from these countries Bolivian migration to Argentina, Norte y Sudamérica. La Paz: CEPLG- OIM, n° 16. tobacco plantations of Salta and about the conditions that drove the authors note, began relatively Dandler, Jorge and Carmen Medeiros UMSS / Universidad de Toulouse / PIEB, (1991). “Migración temporaria de Jujuy required seasonal workers to them to migrate, the authors found recently (1950s) when compared to Centro de Estudios Fronterizos / Plural. Cochabamba, Bolivia, a la Argentina: Roberto Benencia teaches courses on harvest and process these crops, as that in Bolivia – the country with the other two countries under study. Patrones e impacto en las áreas de Marshall, Adriana and Dora Orlansky migration, rural development and labor did the burgeoning wine industry the most factors pointing in that Bolivia’s socioeconomic structure envío.” In Patricia Pessar (ed.), Fronteras (1983). “Inmigración de países limítrofes in Mendoza. Different growing direction and the least capacity to was characterized historically by permeables. Buenos Aires: Planeta. y demanda de mano de obra en la in the School of Agronomy at University of seasons created a steady demand for absorb its excess rural work force a servile role for the rural sector, Guevara, J. P. (2004). “Migraciones Argentina, 1940-1980.” Desarrollo Buenos Aires (FAUBA) and is a researcher at labor throughout the year, as did – people did not turn to migration keeping the population tied to bolivianas en el contexto de la Económico 23, no. 89. CONICET, Argentina.

18 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 19 regional spotlight

Unexpected Guests: Cuban and Haitian Migrants in Costa Rica, 2015-2017 Cubans wave goodbye to friends departing by bus from La Cruz, Guanacaste, Costa Rica to go to the airport in nearby Liberia on January 12, 2016. by Luis G. Solís Elation and trepidation gripped the first group of Cuban migrants to fly out of Costa Rica on a trial air-and-land journey to start new lives in the United States. CARLOS GONZALEZ/AFP via Getty Images.

n late October 2015, the Cuban arrivals in Costa Rica rose years of the Nicaraguan Revolution policies. First, Ecuador abandoned claimed they had been subject to presence among the migrants of Costa Rican Migration Police from 1500 to more than 8000. in the 1970s. Diplomatically, the its universal citizenship model horrific abuse from national security nationals from Sudan, Oman and broke up a band of coyotes All were halted on the border with situation was also tense: Cuba, and began requiring travel visas forces and armed, non-state actors. Yemen, countries alleged to harbor that had been operating in Nicaragua, in one of the poorest Colombia, Ecuador, the Central for Cubans entering the country. terrorist organizations. the country for several years. regions of Costa Rica, deprived American countries, Mexico and Second, Cuba restricted the number Between April 2016 and early Mostly devoted to trafficking Cuban of significant social services and the United States all had different of passports issued to citizens 2017, some 23,000 Haitians, out The Haitian exodus slowed with scarce lodging facilities. The agendas for dealing with the Inationals traveling by foot from traveling to Ecuador. And lastly, the of more than 200,000 living in significantly in 2018, when Brazil impasse was the result of the migrants. The existing multilateral US came to the realization that the Brazil since 2010, passed through renewed its commitment to support Ecuador, the band had successfully unwillingness of the Nicaraguan framework was fragile, due to special privileges it offered Cubans Costa Rica, and this is probably its migrant community. By then, moved thousands of people across government (and, later, most other the (mostly) economic nature of were indeed a magnet for migrants an underestimate. Because of thousands of Haitians had traveled the border with Nicaragua on their Central American governments, the migrants, and the unrealistic from the island and eventually their large numbers and total to Chile and Peru, where they way to the United States. with the exception of Panama) categorization of Costa Rica ended them with significant dependency on official support, the received refuge. Many others were to allow free passage to Cuban as a “middle-to-high” human bipartisan support. Haitians stayed in camps serviced discouraged from travel to the US Cuban migrants had been hiding migrants. Thanks to the personal development country not eligible by the Costa Rican Red Cross and by the Trump Administration’s open in Costa Rica, moving gradually involvement of Presidents Enrique to receive significant cooperation Another flow of migrants the Ministries of Public Security, hostility to migrants. The migration towards the north as they recovered Peña Nieto of Mexico and Juan from the international community. appeared at the Costa Rican border Health, and Social Affairs. Unlike phenomenon is latent, however, and from their hazardous journey Carlos Varela of Panama, as well as Fortunately, unlike other migrants, with Panama in early April 2016. the Cubans who came before them, could restart at any time. This is an through Colombia and Panama, two airline companies, several bus who typically lack even the minimal At the beginning, the authorities the Haitians knew that they could era of human mobility, and Latin since at least 2008. They did so by operators that offered their services resources to survive, Cubans tended believed these migrants came from not count on government support to America and the Caribbean are no taking advantage of favorable laws to the migrants at cost value, and a to have at least some financial French-speaking West Africa, but travel north. They moved faster in exceptions to that rule. If massive that granted them automatic asylum lot of hard work of by Costa Rican resources, either their own or soon it became apparent that most and out of the camps (or did not use and sustained, migrations could upon reaching US territory. They authorities and diplomats, the assistance provided by family of them were Haitians, fleeing them at all), seeking a way out of create immense havoc, especially also benefitted from the Ecuadorian situation was finally resolved. The and friends, which they accessed hunger and unemployment in Costa Rica with the help of coyotes as in smaller nations, but even in government’s policy of “universal Costa Rican government was able through financial intermediaries Brazil. These particular migrants soon as they could, despite efforts by bigger ones, as the Venezuelan- citizenship,” which at the time did to arrange a “land and air bridge” along the way. These resources did not find a warm welcome the Costa Rican police to stop them. Colombian case clearly shows. In not require visas for admittance to the Mexico-US border, and by made it possible for them to pay for from the US government, which This complicated the recording of times of global fear and uncertainty, into that country. These special early April 2016, all of the Cuban their transportation to the US and advised them to turn back or seek names, many of which were false governments in the region would do circumstances, in addition to the migrants had settled in their obtain food and lodging at private refuge in other countries. The from the outset. Linguistic issues well to prepare a contingency plan Cuban government’s willingness new destinations. establishments in Costa Rica. northern Central American nations further complicated many cases. for this scenario. to issue passports to any national concurred and blocked their borders Adults traveling with children often leaving the island, contributed to the The Costa Rican government, In 2016, an estimated 30,000 once again. Panama and Costa lacked the documentation to prove Luis G. Solís is the former President of start of a new diaspora. The flow of suffering from an endemic fiscal Cubans were living in Ecuador, Rica, however, the southernmost their parenthood, and cultural issues Costa Rica and currently serves as Visiting migrants intensified in 2012, when deficit, lacked the financial resources most of them aspiring to migrate nations of the Central American and racism clouded the relations Distinguished Professor of Latin American rumors circulated in Havana that the to provide humanitarian support to to the US. Had the surge of Studies at the Kimberly Green Latin isthmus, did not have the resources between the migrants and local American and Caribbean Center at Florida US would soon reverse its privileged this unexpected wave of migrants. migration continued, the stage (or the moral insensitivity) to communities. The situation created International University. migration status for Cubans. Neither did it have in place the would have been set for a major stop them. Arriving by foot, often a significant challenge for the Costa protocols to deal with such a large crisis. Ultimately, however, the after enduring awful physical and Rican authorities, especially due In less than two months, between migrant contingent, which Costa flow stopped in response to a emotional conditions in Colombia to the need to address security October and December 2015, Rica had not experienced since the combination of public and private and Ecuador, many (mostly women) concerns regarding the likely

20 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 21 regional spotlight

Opportunities and Challenges for Haitian Migrants in Chile by Roody Reserve

mmigration plays an secure a better life for themselves and had lost nearly 50% of its GDP to important role in Haiti’s their families is to “vote with their natural disasters. economy and welfare, not feet,” abandoning their dream to only for those Haitians who transform the country from within. At a 2010 donors conference in decide to leave the country in It is in this context that a new wave New York, a range of governments search of a better life, but also for of migrants has set its sights on South and organizations promised more than US$10 billion to reconstruct Ithose who stay behind. According America, and Chile in particular. the country. In practice, however, to Luis Felipe López Calva, United As of late 2018, according not all of this support materialized, Nations Assistant Secretary General to Chile’s National Institute of and a good part of the aid that did and UNDP Regional Director for Statistics, the country was home to was lost to corruption and bad Latin American and the Caribbean, 179,338 Haitians. They represented administrative decisions, further as of 2017 more than one-third 14.3% of all foreigners in Chile, the debilitating the Haitian state. In this of Haiti’s GDP depended on third most numerous nationality context, many Haitiains, especially remittances from citizens living after Venezuelans and Peruvians. young people, turned to emigration abroad, the highest level in Latin The influx has been rapid; the 2012 as one of the only feasible options left to build their future. America. Public opinion data from census, for example, did not even AmericasBarometer reveal that in list Haitians among foreigners residing in Chile. Why has Chile Chile, Brazil and other South any given year from 2008 through experienced such a surge of Haitian American countries were especially 2017, at least 50% of Haitians migrants in recent years? What is attractive destinations. Some Haitians reported that their households their situation in the country? had had contact with military received remittances from family What kind of challenges have they representatives from these countries, members or friends living abroad, faced in a context of social unrest thanks to their participation in the with a peak of 66% in 2012. In and instability? UN Mission for Stabilization in the same period, at least one-fifth Haiti (MINUSTAH). In interviews conducted in 2010 in Chile, many reported depending heavily on In search of new destinations Haitian migrants said that their these remittances. After the massive earthquake that decision to immigrate to that country struck Haiti in January 2010, it was was in part motivated by friends Emigration is one of the few clear to most observers that a massive from the Chilean army who had been options left to young Haitians faced influx of aid would be necessary, not stationed in Haiti. Just as important with political tensions, repression only to bring immediate help to the was the fact that Chile was at that and dire economic situations due to survivors, but also to give a modicum time one of the few countries where natural disasters and bad decision of hope to young people that they Haitians could travel without a visa. making by economic and political would be able to rebuild their lives elites. The necessity to migrate has in Haiti. Two years earlier, in 2008, The treatment accorded Haitians been particularly acute since the end Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and in the Dominican Republic was A Haitian migrant carries a backpack as he walks to board a of the Duvalier dictatorship in the Ike devastated Gonaïves, the fourth another factor redirecting the flow Chilean military plane taking him back to Haiti at the Military mid 1980s. After repeated failed largest Haitian city. The estimated of migration. In 2013, after many Air Base in Santiago, on November 7, 2018. Some 1000 Haitians attempts to institute meaningful US$1 billion in economic damages registered in a “voluntary return plan” launched by the Chilean years of propaganda against Haitians, government. The program was aimed at any of the 165,000 political changes, many Haitians, from these hurricanes, combined the Dominican Constitutional Haitians who lived in Chile in 2018 and wished to return to their especially the young and educated, with $8 billion from the earthquake, Court decided that children born to country after failing to adapt. MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via have determined that the best way to meant that in just two years Haiti migrants without legal status in the Getty Images. 22 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 23 regional spotlight regional spotlight

country would not be considered into Chilean society. Racism was not The challenges ahead Dominican nationals. The ruling was the first obstacle they identified in As the citizens of Chile grapple said to be applicable retroactively their attempts to settle in Chile. with the reality of a more diverse to 1929. Scores of Dominicans society, many challenges lie ahead of Haitian decent would lose the As the number of Haitian migrants for Haitian migrants. First, they face nationality they had acquired by has increased, however, along with an urgent need to better organize increasing migration from Venezuela, birth. Many Haitians left the with other migrant communities to Colombia and the Dominican Dominican Republic for Chile develop a collective response to the Republic, this has changed. From following this ruling. According to suspicious attitudes and sometimes 2014 to 2017, the Haitian presence journalist Jonathan M. Katz, and blatant racism they encounter in based on data from Human Rights in Chile grew by an astounding 4,433%. In the same period, the some sectors of society. Second, Watch, from 2015-2018 Dominican they will need diplomatic support authorities deported an estimated number of Venezuelans increased by 1057% and Colombians, 507%. from state officials in Haiti to better 70,000 to 80,000 people of Haitian protect their status abroad. descent—more than a quarter of Perhaps because of the increased pressure on Chilean resources, the the Dominico-Haitian population. The current context of political By late 2018, the Dominican welcome Haitians once received in that country has begun to wear unrest in Chile, where the discussion government has only restored centers around a new social pact citizenship documents to about thin. Many Haitian migrants in Chile experience food insecurity. aimed at alleviating inequality, 19,000 of those denationalized in the offers an opportunity to find ways Nicaraguan and Cuban homeless migrants demonstrate outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office to demand help five years since the ruling. They are also reported to be the during the coronavirus pandemic in San José, Costa Rica on April 21, 2020. EZEQUIEL BECERRA/AFP via Getty Images. subject of most of the debate about to integrate migrants into Chilean immigration in Chile, even though society. It represents a chance Chile’s reception of to change the prevailing view of Haitian migrants they do not represent the largest group of foreigners in the country. immigrants as a source of cheap When the current wave of The conversation is mostly negative labor whose vulnerability is easily immigration started, in 2010 and and tainted by racism. exploited to deny them basic human Migration from Nicaragua 2011, Haitians migrants were rights. With improved organization mostly well received in Chile. In The growing presence of and the support of the many Chilean personal interviews conducted with Haitians in Chile has meant that organizations that actively support to Costa Rica and the Impact new arrivals attending free Spanish- their importance to the Haitian migrant communities, the new social language classes in Santiago, migrants economy has soared, as well. Some pact under debate could take up from Haiti usually declared that, in studies show Chile in second place the challenge to contribute to social of COVID-19 (2018-2020) spite of difficulty adapting to the in the amount of remittances sent integration, a feature that is lacking language and the climate, they felt to Haiti, after the United States in the current discussion about by Alberto Cortés Ramos that they would be able to integrate and Canada. migrant communities in Chile.

References igratory flows productive system, in particular, the The dynamics of migration Americas Barometer, Latin American Katz, Jonathan M. (2018, Novermber Food Insecurity and Factors Associated between need for foreign labor to harvest between Nicaragua and Costa Rica Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), 12). “What Happened When a Nation with Haitian Immigrants in Southern Nicaragua and crops and fill other jobs local www.LapopSurveys.org. Erased Birthright Citizenship.” In Chile.” Journal of Immigrant and Since the end of the nineteenth Costa Rica run workers are unwilling to perform, century, political and economic Cavallo, E., Powell, A., & Becerra, The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic. Minority Health, 21(6), 1436-1439. com/ideas/archive/2018/11/ in a north/south such as construction and domestic factors have driven migration cycles O. (2010). “Estimating the Valle, M. M. (2014). “Afro- direction. Two key factors explain Direct Economic Damages of the dominican-republic-erased-birthright- Descendant Migrants in Santiago, chores. A third factor, which has from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. citizenship/575527/ M Significant migration began in the Earthquake in Haiti.” The Economic Chile: Stigma Processes and Rhetorical this trend: first, the consistently gained importance in recent years, Journal, 120(546), F298-F312. Oliver-Smith, A. (2010). “Haiti Resistance.” Revista Trabajo Social, 87, stable political environment in is the strength of the Costa Rican 1880s, when Nicaraguans helped build the railway to Costa Rica's Freire-Vidal, Y., & Graells-Garrido, and the Historical Construction 3-18. Costa Rica, in contrast to the social security and educational of Disasters. NACLA Report on the Caribbean coast. Later, and until E. (2019, May). “Characterization of authoritarian and violent nature Americas, 43(4), 32-36. Roody Reserve is a professor of systems. These benefits are generally the middle of the twentieth century, Local Attitudes toward Immigration of political regimes throughout Using Social Media.” In Companion Maury-Sintjago, E., Rodríguez- political science at the Universidad available to all of the country’s thousands of Nicaraguan workers Proceedings of The 2019 World Wide Web Fernández, A., García, D. E., & Parra- Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in Nicaraguan history; and second, inhabitants, regardless of their sustained the banana plantations in Conference, 783-790. Flores, J. (2019). “High Prevalence of El Salvador. the dynamics of the Costa Rican citizenship or migratory status. the Caribbean and Pacific lowlands.

24 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 25 regional spotlight regional spotlight

A constant flow of political refugees expansion. Observing the contrast the following days and to occupy joined the flood of migrants between the two countries, urban the public university campuses. The during the years of the Somoza and rural Nicaraguans alike resumed regime's reaction was brutal and dynasty (1936-1979), growing in their pilgrimage to the south in what unexpected; instead of seeking a significance in the early 1970s, when would become the largest migration negotiated settlement of the crisis, the repression and political violence cycle in binational history. government authorized paramilitary increased and the Sandinista Front groups and the National Police to for National Liberation (FSLN) In 1999, as a result of a pact with step up their use of violence against used Costa Rica as a strategic President Arnoldo Aleman, the FSLN the protesters. By May, some 360 rearguard in the final stages of its gained new status as a political power people (mostly unarmed civilians) war against the dictatorship. broker, culminating in Ortega’s had been killed or disappeared, more return to the presidency in 2006. than 600 imprisoned without trial, By the time of the Sandinista Despite his refusal to surrender and dozens of women raped in one victory in July 1979, an estimated political power in several electoral of the most violent state-sponsored 80,000 Nicaraguan migrants resided processes marred with irregularities, terror campaigns in Nicaragua since in Costa Rica. A decade later, after economic stability gradually returned 1979. Unyielding to international the abuses of the Sandinista regime to Nicaragua. Largely resulting from pressure and direct appeals from the and the US-funded contra war, the Ortega’s privileged relationship with United Nations, the Vatican and the number had risen to more than the Chávez and Maduro regimes in Organization of American States, 120,000, nearly 40,000 of them Venezuela, Nicaragua’s GDP grew and determined not to allow any enjoying refugee status. Most of this by a consistent 5% between 2013 signs of internal fractures, the regime population returned to Nicaragua and 2018. Even so, census figures continued its repressive actions, in 1990, after the electoral triumph show that between 2011 and 2020, forcing many opponents – students of President Violeta Barrios de the Nicaraguan population in Costa and journalists, in particular – to seek Chamorro over Daniel Ortega, Rica grew from 287,766 to around asylum in Costa Rica. but the returnees’ dream of a 500,000, representing approximately new Nicaragua characterized by 12% of the national population. Between January and March 2018, democracy, peace and prosperity This is one of the highest percentages the Costa Rican authorities received soon proved elusive. in Latin America, especially only 22 refugee applications from considering Costa Rica’s size (only Nicaraguans. By early June, after The profound transformations of 50,000 sq. km, a little smaller snipers attacked the Mother’s Day the early 1990s ushered in a new than Alabama, Arkansas or North parade in Managua, the number of cycle of political and economic Carolina), and its weak economy, applications rose to 3344, and in instability in Nicaragua. Besieged which was already faltering prior to July, it reached 5279. Between June by an aggressive and well-organized the COVID-19 pandemic. 2018 and March 2020, an average of Sandinista opposition, harassed by 2900 Nicaraguans applied for refugee its own political allies, and coping A new cycle of Nicaraguan status in Costa Rica every month, with the adjustments to newly migration to Costa Rica began on for a total of about 70,000 new acquired democratic institutions April 18, 2018 when the Nicaraguan applicants in two years. (privatizations, disarmament of government announced a series the contras, transformation of the of social security reforms that Fiscal and economic pressures Sandinista Party militia into a true included taxing pensions. Protests in Costa Rica National Armed Force, election by university students, civil society of a non-partisan judiciary, severe activists, feminists and senior citizens The Costa Rican government, droughts and recurrent famine in affected by the reforms were violently coping with a critical financial situation and resulting social conflict the northern highlands, among suppressed by FSLN shock forces and A Nicaraguan activist wears a face mask other pressures), the Chamorro the National Police. The crackdown in the second half of 2018, could not and goggles to prevent the spread of government was incapable of was broadcast live for more than three have foreseen the abrupt arrival of coronavirus while he distributes food to ensuring economic growth and hours on national television and went tens of thousands of people fleeing Nicaraguan migrants living on the streets internal peace. At the same time, viral on social media soon after. The violence and repression in Nicaragua. of San José, Costa Rica, on April 16, 2020. EZEQUIEL BECERRA/AFP via Costa Rica was beginning a cycle official repression spurred even more At the time, unemployment in Getty Images. of economic diversification and students to take to the streets over Costa Rica stood at more than 10%,

26 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 27 regional spotlight regional spotlight

further complicating the insertion Characteristics of the Nicaraguan their organizations and fending for First, the flow of migrants has already insufficient and ill-equipped References of the arriving migrants into the refugee population themselves is a way of resisting and decreased significantly. In response hospital space in Nicaragua and to the pandemic, many Nicaraguans the detection of dozens of migrants International Organization for labor market. The adverse economic The latest wave of migrants to fighting the Ortega regime. In this returned to their home country, testing positive for COVID-19 in the Migration, Ministry of Labor and Social context inhibited the ability of the Costa Rica from Nicaragua is very process, they have demonstrated reacting both to the strict measures border region. These migrants were Security of Costa Rica, Acuña González, Costa Rican authorities to channel different from those that preceded a great political, productive and Guillermo, et al. 2011. “Flujos taken by Costa Rica in closing quarantined and hospitalized at once, public resources toward the migrant it. To begin with, the motivation organizational capacity. migratorios laborales intrarregionales: its borders and the prospect of but such reports raised concerns of influx, but even scant support for leaving Nicaragua is mostly situación actual, retos y oportunidades triggered xenophobic reactions from Despite the initiative they have deteriorating economic conditions. a xenophobic reaction against the en Centroamérica y República political. Today’s migrants are often Facing the possibility of a productive refugee population in the country. some sectors of the local population. civil and political activists, journalists shown, Nicaraguans seeking Dominicana. Informe de Costa Rica.” On August 18, a small but vocal refuge in Costa Rica since 2018 catastrophe in Costa Rica, many San José: OIM, OIT, MTSS, CECC or human rights defenders fleeing migrants chose to return to their One final element to note is SICA, Red de Observatorio del protest erupted in the capital of persecution under the Ortega regime. have faced significant obstacles, San José calling for the expulsion of home country, despite the risks. that the seasonal rural migrants Mercado Laboral. https://www.iom.int/ In terms of social capital, they have including employment. Those with Nicaraguans from the country. Most who travel to Costa Rica for jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/ a higher level of education and, professional careers have struggled Costa Ricans rejected the protesters’ Second, the Costa Rican relatively short periods of time (4 media/docs/reports/Informe-Costa- because of their practical experience to validate their credentials in Costa Rica-Flujos-Migratorios-Laborales- tone as well as their demands, but government implemented the so- to 9 months) will not be allowed as activists, a greater capacity to Rica. Previous waves of Nicaraguan Intrarregionales.pdf the implications were clear: an ill- called “Protect Bond,” a 3-month to enter the country until the make themselves heard and claim migrants typically sought unskilled handled migration policy could have payment of between US$110 and pandemic is significantly under their rights. University students, jobs that paid the worst salaries International Organization for serious consequences for social peace. and for which there was little local $220 to people without income control. Given the dependence of Migration and Instituto de Fomento professionals, and civil, political or whose wages were significantly transnational agrobusiness on this and intellectual leaders figure competition, but newer arrivals Municipal, Costa Rica. 2019. “Estudio With the support of the United diminished by the crisis. The bonus foreign workforce, the potential preliminar de flujos migratorios mixtos prominently among the migrants. may be perceived as a threat to the Nations High Commissioner Costa Rican professional sector, was also available to refugees and labor shortage has created alarm that nicaragüenses, abril 2018-junio 2019.” for Refugees (UNHCR), the They are a highly connected asylum seekers with a provisional crops could be lost. Any relaxation https://www.programamesoamerica. community that has managed to potentially competing for jobs in a International Organization for context of economic crisis and high identity card, a group representing of border restrictions to allay these iom.int/sites/default/files/estudio_ maintain an important level of preliminar_de_flujos_migratorios_ Migrations and other civil society unemployment. This could become about half of the total migrant concerns or attempts to thwart the organizations, the Costa Rican articulation based on territorial, population. Despite efforts by regulations could become a source nicaraguenses_0.pdf political and sectoral affinities. an even more serious problem authorities expedited identification following the COVID-19 crisis. UNHCR to support those who had of coronavirus infection throughout not yet regularized their immigration the country. Miranda Aburto, Wilfredo and Regidor, cards and work permits for Cindy. 2020. “Los nicas en Costa Thanks to their social networks, status, a good part of the migrant migrants within three months A second critical issue for newly Rica: migrantes históricos. https:// these migrants also maintain population faced destitution. Nobody can know how the of application for refugee status. arrived migrants is gaining access confidencial.com.ni/los-nicas-en-costa- relationships with their families, pandemic will evolve in Costa This allows for the regularization to the public health system. While rica-migrantes-historicos/ communities and organizations Third, the Ortega-Murillo regime’s Rica and Nicaragua, but even of employment conditions while historically Costa Rica has given in Nicaragua, transforming their irresponsible management of the without it the political crisis improving the personal and family Nicaraguans direct access to health Other sources: linkages into a truly transnational COVID-19 pandemic1 has raised surrounding the Ortega regime - Interview with Harold Villegas, situations of refugees in the country. care, new requirements and obstacles social space. In Costa Rica, they are grave concerns in Costa Rica that is far from over and could enter General Office of Migration and Nevertheless, Costa Rica has a are inhibiting migrants from able to engage in online activism thousands of sick Nicaraguans will another acute phase as national Foreign Affairs, Vice Ministry of the rigid policy for granting refugee receiving services. Institutionalized impossible to pursue in Nicaragua be forced to travel to neighboring elections approach in 2021. The Interior, Government of the Republic status. Only 25% of all cases are xenophobia hinders the foreign due to government restrictions. countries for health services that economic scenario does not look of Costa Rica, May 7, 2020. approved. The explanation for population from accessing health Unlike previous waves of migrants, their own government is unable to positive for any country in Central this seemingly Draconian policy services even in an emergency, Alberto Cortés Ramos is Professor of who tended to send remittances home provide. In that scenario, it would America, much less for Nicaragua, is twofold: on the one hand, the including some cases when Political Science and Geography at the to their families, the new arrivals not be farfetched to imagine a given the untrustworthiness of the government fears that the easing of individuals have insurance. University of Costa Rica. This article refugee status could be interpreted receive support from their relatives collapse of the Costa Rican medical government, the sanctions it faces results from his interactions with in Nicaragua and other countries, system and mass infection of the from the US and other international as an open-door policy that would The COVID 19 crisis and the the migrant population, government encourage an uncontrollable flow of especially the United States. local population. This fear was fueled actors, and the productive disarray authorities and NGOs devoted to refugee population migrants; on the other hand, there by the rapidly increasing numbers caused by the increasingly repressive protecting the human rights of migrants are well-grounded concerns that Those migrants from rural areas In March 2020, the COVID-19 of COVID-19 patients filling the and dictatorial Ortega regime. in Costa Rica. He is a member of the flexibilization could open the door also behave differently than their pandemic hit Central America and University Initiative for Nicaragua, a to people linked to international predecessors. Most have resisted the rest of the world. While the group of Costa Rican academics that provides support to its Nicaraguan criminal networks, particularly the insertion into the agribusiness impact the pandemic will have on 1 As of this writing, Ortega refused to acknowledge the threat that the COVID-19 pandemic counterparts living in Costa Rica. so-called maras (gangs), traveling plantations along Costa Rica’s migration flows from Nicaragua into represented for the Nicaraguan people and dismissed the “stay at home” campaign promoted by the opposition and civil society organizations. The Ministry of Health failed to provide reliable through Nicaragua from the northern border, choosing to rent Costa Rica in the coming months information and statistics, let alone testing for the virus. FSLN party structures throughout Northern Triangle of El Salvador, land and cultivate it themselves. and years is still uncertain, several Nicaragua, following Ortega’s orders, promoted mass gathering without any consideration for Guatemala and Honduras. For them, producing food for changes can already be observed. social distancing.

28 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 29 BROADER TRENDS

Population Movements and Climate Change by Gabriela Hoberman & Juan Pablo Sarmiento

uman societies are national borders. The International moved to Houston to escape already experiencing Organization for Migration Hurricane Katrina in August 2009. the effects of defines environmental migrants In total, 80% of the population, climate change. as “persons or groups of persons or approximately 385,000 people, These include who, for compelling reasons of left New Orleans due to the same both slow-onset processes, such as sudden or progressive change in the event and caused a massive increase environment that adversely affects in labor supply in the surrounding Hchanges in evaporation patterns their lives or living conditions, regions. In other parts of the world, and accelerated sea-level rise, are obliged to leave their habitual severe earthquakes or volcanic and disasters triggered by rapid- homes, or choose to do so, either eruptions often cause parts of the onset events or shocks, including temporarily or permanently, and local population to leave home, intense high/low temperatures, who move either within their at least temporarily. When the precipitation, tropical storms and country or abroad.” In 2018, the occurrence of a certain socio-natural Bahamian climate refugees of Hurricane Dorian arrive at the Kendal GL Isaacs National Gym on September 6, 2019, in Nassau, New Providence. forest fires. At any given time, the World Bank estimated that Sub- disaster is predictable, short-term Over 70,000 were left homeless while thousands more evacuated to the US. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images. underlying risk factors associated Saharan Africa, South Asia, and migration could begin even before with development processes - Latin America together could be the disaster. In September 2017, poverty, marginality, land tenure dealing with more than 140 million Hurricane Irma provoked the largest events. Even in rapid-onset events, of climate change on population and measurement techniques. and land use issues, inequality, and internal climate-displaced people evacuation in the history of Florida, liquidity restrictions may force movements. Nevertheless, existing An agreement on standards access to social services, among them by 2050. with hundreds of thousands of many people to relocate only empirical studies of the effects would represent an important inhabitants moving north to seek - cumulatively influence and shape temporarily or embark on short- of climate and socio-natural step in allowing us to advance Global studies of climate safer conditions. distance movements. disasters on population movements methodologically and deepen our these chronic stresses and shocks. variability and international Human population movements are differ in several dimensions, understanding of this ever-growing migration show that disasters Disasters can occur anywhere, Findings such as the ones threat to human security. one consequence of the convergence including sample type, timelines, associated with natural hazards, but developing countries are discussed above have helped improve displaced/migrant approach, of climate change, extreme events, measured as the sum of episodes the most vulnerable to their our understanding of the effect retrospective/prospective studies, and underlying socio-economic with short-term environmental effects. According to the Internal risk factors. shocks, are associated with increased Displacement Monitoring Centre, emigration. The natural and direct Belize, Cuba, and Haiti were among References Although no clear cause and effect short-term consequence of certain the 10 countries with the largest Berlemann, M., and M. Friedrich Preparing for Internal Climate Migration. Monitoring Centre (IDMC). https:// has been established to explain socio-natural disasters, such as disaster displacements relative to Steinhardt. 2017. “Climate Change, Washington D.C.: World Bank. https:// www.internal-displacement.org/global- this relationship, an upward trend severe floods, hurricanes, or forest population in 2018. These and other Natural Disasters, and Migration—a openknowledge.worldbank.org/ report/grid2019/. in population movements can be fires, is for people to move away developing countries are unable Survey of the Empirical Evidence.” bitstream/handle/10986/29461/WBG_ foreseen as an extreme adaptation from the affected regions to save to improve their resilience pre- CESifo Economic Studies 63 (4): 353–85. ClimateChange_Final.pdf Gabriela Hoberman is a political scientist strategy in response to climate their lives. In 2017, according event or efficiently manage post- https://doi.org/10.1093/cesifo/ifx019. Robinson, C., B. Dilkina, and J. and the assistant director of the Extreme change, extreme weather events, or to the Swiss-based Internal disaster effects. In many countries, Laczko, Frank, and IOM, eds. 2009. Moreno-Cruz. 2020. “Modeling Events Institute at Florida International disasters. Many such migrations Displacement Monitoring Centre, remittance play an important Migration, Environment and Climate Migration Patterns in the USA under Sea University. occur when people are left with natural disasters alone accounted mitigating role, helping build Change: Assessing the Evidence. Geneva: Level Rise.” Edited by Julia A. Cherry. Juan Pablo Sarmiento is a physician who no other viable option. These for the displacement of 17.2 resilience and reducing the adverse Internat. International Organization for PLOS ONE 15 (1): e0227436. https:// currently serves as a research professor movements are generally called million people globally. To take an effects of disasters on household Migration. https://publications.iom. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227436. and associate director for research at ‘displacements’ when they occur example from the United States, livelihood. Without financial int/system/files/pdf/migration_and_ IDMC. 2019. “Global Report on the Extreme Events Institute at Florida within a country, and ‘migration’ estimates suggest that between liquidity, migration is less likely environment.pdf Internal Displacement.” Geneva, International University. when the movement crosses 100,000 and 150,000 evacuees to occur in response to slow-onset Rigaud, K. et al. 2018. Groundswell: Switzerland: Internal Displacement

30 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 31 BROADER TRENDS

all aspects of women's lives. As (mostly Nicaraguan) worked in Unfortunately, flight creates reported in the World Economic agriculture, manufacturing and its own risk of violence. Migrant Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report construction, while women were women are subject of multiple 2018, according to time-use data concentrated in the manufacturing forms of violence, including sexual from 29 countries, one-third of and service industries, where they violence, “sextorsion” and rape, them in Latin America, women earned among the lowest wages and may be driven by deception spend on average twice as much in the salary structure, and in or coercion into sex labor or time as men on housework, and household activities, including trafficking. Complaints of sexual especially care activities. Dedicating domestic care. violence have even been made more time to these types of duties against border security agents and inevitably inhibits their ability to Migrant women hired to provide migration services. Many such engage in any type of paid labor. domestic labor, both within Latin accounts were shared by the Cuban America and in destination countries and Haitian migrants passing Domestic care is also central to such as the United States, afford their through Costa Rica from Ecuador the migration process for women. women employers the opportunity during the 2015-2017 exodus. On the one hand, women forced to to work in other more permanent leave their dependents behind, or and profitable formal sectors of the In response to the problem send them alone under the care of economy. This in turn denies the of trafficking, the Follow-up a relative or even a stranger, suffer very same opportunity to the migrant Mechanism to the Belém do Pará from anxiety and feelings of guilt. women they employ. The scenario Convention (MESECVI) urged This becomes especially traumatic essentially generates a zero sum cycle the 32 signatory states to adopt the Migrant Mother’s Day. in the case of minors. On the of discrimination and inequality and standards of the United Nations Central American mothers other hand, women who care one of negative interdependence. Yet, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and and their children in a migrant shelter in Juárez, Mexico, for dependents during migratory this phenomenon is seldom registered Punish Trafficking in Persons, on May 10, 2019. journeys face both physical and in national statistics because it Especially Women and Children DAVID PEINADO/NurPhoto via Getty Images. psychological exhaustion. The long occurs in the private sphere, is driven (Palermo Protocol). Unfortunately, journeys migrants endure often cause by informal hiring practices, and the legislation and its effective health problems such as dehydration, often functions within a context implementation are still pending in sunburn and other conditions worthy of social and moral critique. most countries of Latin America and aggravated by severe food shortages, Paradoxically, the same migrants that the Caribbean. particularly in children and older are maligned as being undesirable or people who require special care. less capable simply due to their socio- In 2016, the United Nations Women Migrants in Latin America: economic status, cultural differences Office on Drugs and Crime If they are fortunate enough to or ethnicity are brought into their (UNODC) identified more reach their destinations, the sexual employers’ homes to care for their than 25,000 trafficked persons, Following World Trends? division of labor and lack of job children and elderly members of the noting that the figure has been skills required by more competitive family, cook their food, and work in rising consistently since 2011. by Alejandra Mora Mora labor markets relegate many migrant the most intimate corners of their According to UNODC, trafficking women to domestic work, often domestic sphere. in persons includes abuses such as in conditions characterized by a sexual exploitation, forced labor omen have women and girls in the world This article, therefore, calls attention total lack of protection. For these Violence is another crosscutting or exploitation. In 70% of cases played an today contributes to humanize the to two crosscutting phenomena that, women, social security regimes phenomenon for female migrants. worldwide, the victims were women active role in specificity of their experiences and in addition to factors such as poverty are inaccessible, and poverty In addition to domestic violence, and girls. In Central America migrations shed light on the female dimensions and insecurity, typically accompany is perpetuated. a frequent driver of migration and the Caribbean, 55% of the throughout of this phenomenon in Latin migrant women on their journeys: for women, pervasive organized victims were girls and 25% adult history, but in recent years their America and the Caribbean, and domestic care and violence. Countries that collect data on crime also spurs many women (for women. In South America, of the numbersW have increased, along with around the world. the labor behavior of foreigners can example, in the so-called Northern 3,000 victims identified, 31% were the complexity of the situations they The sexual division of labor that attest to the prevalence of women in Triangle of Central America, formed girls and 51% women. The most face. Highlighting and identifying The more visible women and girls assigns women to care not only the domestic sector. In Costa Rica, by Guatemala, Honduras and El common complaint was sexual gender-differentiated impacts and are in migratory flows, the greater for sons and daughters, but also a 2013 study by the International Salvador) to flee environments exploitation. Many migrant women their interconnections in the lives of our chances of understanding and older adults and family members Organization for Migration found dominated by gangs and permanent do not report violent incidents the more than 120 million migrant addressing specific regional trends. with disabilities or illness, affects that the majority of migrant men social conflict. for fear of official reprisals that

32 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 33 BROADER TRENDS BROADER TRENDS

could lead to deportation. This the actors who are supposed to Due to all of these factors, intimidation weakens efforts to protect them: first, because they migrant women do not perceive identify and protect the victims, as are women whose specific realities the same benefits and guarantees well as the administration of justice are not adequately taken into or the same autonomy and for violence against women at each account; and second, because their economic independence from stage of the migration process. particular situations are undervalued their participation in productive to the point of ceasing to be a employment as do men. For migrant women from the priority on the state agenda. In Consequently, poverty, violence region fortunate enough to reach practice, this double invisibility and discrimination in migratory the United States, the difficulty has concrete implications for the movements increasingly have a of quantifying the true extent of rights of migrant women and girls. woman’s face, body and soul, the violence they encounter often Specifically, the economic impact intensified and conditioned further works against them in the asylum of the domestic labor women by race or ethnicity, social class process. In a 2006 study, Ana Silvia supply cannot be measured in a and age. Monzón reported that in the five satellite account, nor do concepts Only precise and differentiated years previous, the US authorities exist to understand this situation statistical recording, along with fair recognized a total of just 856 women in relation to, and differentially and effective implementation of HIV Testing Booth in Lummus Park on Ocean Drive from Mexico and Central America from, men’s labor. In addition, legislation, policies and programs in South Beach, Miami Beach’s most popular tourist area. as refugees. The granting of refugee women’s work is characterized by aimed at managing human flows JEFFREY GREENBERG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. status is a complex procedure inconsistent remuneration and a that address specific needs, will whose fairness and legality has been lack of regulation and public debate help us move closer to the goal repeatedly challenged, without on working conditions. As for of enabling thousands of migrant success, by many NGOs and violence against migrant women, women in Latin America and the humanitarian groups. there is a lack of formal channels Caribbean to live their lives in for registering complaints or raising certainty and without fear. From a feminist perspective, awareness of the problem, resulting South Florida: HIV/Drug Epidemics, migrant women and girls face a in widespread impunity that puts double invisibility with regard to the lives of women and girls at risk. Immigrant Ethnic Sexual Minorities and Tourism References Monzón, Ana Silvia. (2006). Las United Nations Office on Drugs and Alejandra Mora Mora is Executive by José Félix Colón Burgos viajeras invisibles: mujeres migrantes en la Crime. (2018). Informe Global de Trata Secretary of the Inter-American región centroamericana y el sur de México. de Personas. https://www.unodc.org/ Commission on Women at the Guatemala: PCS/CAMEX. bolivia/es/La-UNODC-presento-el- Organization of American States. Informe-Global-de-Trata-de-Personas- eographically, the Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Hispanic/Latinx’s from subgroups International Organization for such as gay-identified men, non-gay- Migration. (2013). La población 2018-con-enfasis-en-sudamerica.html Florida peninsula is counties) had the country’s highest extranjera en Costa Rica: Principales World Economic Forum. (2018). situated between two rate of HIV infection diagnoses. identified men who have sex with actividades económicas y ocupaciones. The Global Gender Gap Report 2018. regions with high The same region also contains the men (MSMs), and transgender or https://rosanjose.iom.int/site/sites/ Geneva, Switzerland: The World HIV prevalence rates: two US metropolitan areas with the gender variant persons. According to Gilbert & Rhodes (2013), these default/files/La_poblacion_extranjera_ Economic Forum. the southeastern United States and highest HIV case rates: Miami and en_Costa_Rica.pdf Gthe Caribbean. In 2017, 52% of populations “constitute a particularly Ft. Lauderdale (44.0 and 32.0 per vulnerable subgroup which may new HIV diagnoses in the US were 100,000, respectively). Nationally, be marginalized along multiple in the South (17 states, including Miami-Dade County ranks number dimensions, including immigration Florida). In 2018, Florida had the one in new HIV infections. status, language use, ethnic minority third-highest HIV case rate (23.4 status, gender identity, or sexual per 100,000 people) of any state The burden of HIV/AIDS is highly orientation.” A resurgence in stimulant in the US, twice as high as the concentrated among immigrant use (cocaine, methamphetamines) national average, and the South ethnic, sexual, and gender minorities, is also related to a higher risk of Florida tri-county region (Miami- with an observed increase among acquiring HIV/AIDS, especially

34 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 35 BROADER TRENDS BROADER TRENDS

within sexual minority groups such ethnic sexual and gender minorities, conducted in-depth qualitative, semi- as MSMs. Studies consistently show such as Latinx MSMS (LMSMS), structured interviews with them to that MSMs who use stimulants often encounter when migrating or examine their perspectives on factors have a three-to sixfold greater risk moving to the South Florida area, that shape the dual epidemics of drug of HIV seroconversion. This trend especially Miami Dade County. use and HIV/AIDS in South Florida. is corroborated by comparable Whether motivated by a desire Of the interviewees, 36.1%(n=13) increases in methamphetamine use to escape economic or political were born in Venezuela, 22.2% and methamphetamine-induced instability, or marginalized by (n=8) in Cuba, 11.1%(n=4) in the deaths in South Florida. homophobic and conservative continental United States, 8.3% heteronormative cultures in their (n=3) in Puerto Rico, and 5.6%(n=2) HIV/drug use epidemics home communities, these men move in Argentina. The remaining and tourism to South Florida in search of a new 16.6%(n=6) were men born in Chile, life of prosperity, equal rights, and Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Panama and The above statistics demonstrate greater acceptance of their sexual Colombia. All of the participants’ the severity of the HIV/drug identities and orientation. At the names have been changed for the epidemic in South Florida, a region same time, however, they can end purpose of this article. with a robust tourism sector. up exposing themselves to a high- According to the Greater Miami risk setting for HIV and drug abuse. One of the recent LMSM Convention & Visitors Bureau, in Many new arrivals have no idea of immigrants was Juan, a 38-year-old 2018 the Miami tourism industry the health vulnerability they will Venezuelan working at a Miami received a total of 23.3 million encounter in South Florida, especially Beach hotel. Many young Latino people (international, domestic and if they work in the tourism sector. immigrants, he noted, “arrive in this Florida locals), employed 142,100 country mainly undocumented…. workers, and is estimated to have The pilot study and its results Many people abuse them because accounted for $18 billion of the local they believe or know that they need economy. As a number of global Between July 2018 and June 2019, papers and that they are an easy research projects have shown, tourism I implemented a pilot exploratory target for sex. And they [locals] areas generate conditions of HIV study to gather the experiences of go out with them for one or two and drug abuse vulnerability, often recent (5 years or less) and more Nightlife is one of the main tourist attractions of South Beach. According to an Argentine undocumented immigrant and informal South Beach months, they have sex with the tourist guide, “Paradise, vacation, sex, drugs; there cannot be one without the other.” ERICBARNS­ /Pixabay. through linkages to sex tourism, established LMSM immigrants (both newcomers and then they come elevated rates of risky behaviors, and US- and foreign-born) working and go with the other, and another, high rates of illicit drug use. in the tourism sector on Miami’s another, and another…” year and a half after arriving in South I heard a similar story from because meth is one of the most South Beach. Tourism is one of Florida), he became infected with Fernando, a 28-year-old Cuban-born followed drugs here by the police... In South Florida, migration and the only economic sectors in which When I asked Juan about his own HIV because of an accident with a escort and former host at a popular but yes, they use cocaine, all over the mobility related to tourism are factors LMSMs, whether documented experience, he replied: “Today, I am needle while injecting steroids into Ocean Drive restaurant. Like Juan, beach, all waiters on the beach, all closely linked to the rising incidence or undocumented, can find work stable. I already feel much better, but his former partner. Regrettably, the Fernando finds himself isolated the bartenders from the beach huelen of HIV among MSMs in the in the formal or informal market. starting from scratch in the United former partner did not inform Juan from his family since becoming HIV perico [snort cocaine].” region. A recent study reported that Guided by a previous study of the States was the most difficult stage in that he was HIV positive. When positive during his first few years in 31.2% of 125 HIV-negative MSMs Caribbean tourism environment and my entire life….. It was not difficult I asked Juan about his health and Miami. “To go to Cuba and face He went on to describe what is seroconverted within five years of Padilla’s theoretical tourism ecological to leave home, it was not difficult how satisfied he was with the care the reality and explain to my family informally called “party and play,” or migrating to tourist areas in South framework, I employed several to start from zero in Caracas. But that he had received in Miami, he that I have a disease, they would “chemsex,” a term used “to indicate Florida, supporting the idea that data collection methods. First, I starting from zero in the United answered in a very positive way but not understand it,” he maintained. the voluntary intake of psychoactive MSMs who move to these areas are at conducted informal interviews with States was not easy. I could not get noted that he felt sad that he cannot Fernando has lived in Miami for six and non-psychoactive drugs in the heightened vulnerability to the virus. 18 informants, 13 of them from a job because not having papers is ... go home and visit his family because years, mostly in the South Beach area. context of recreational settings to Exposure to circuit parties and ‘party organizations that work on HIV/ it’s not easy. I had to live in a studio of his immigration status. Obtaining In the interview, he started to tell facilitate and/or to enhance sexual drugs’ (e.g., methamphetamines, AIDS prevention and treatment in with a lady who rented a bunkbed. the care he needs would also be me about his addiction to stimulants intercourse mostly among MSM” cocaine, and Ecstasy) has also been Miami-Dade and Broward County, Very difficult….” much more difficult in Venezuela, – cocaine and methamphetamines (Giorgetti et al., 2017, p.762). found to exacerbate an existing to gather information regarding he explained: “In Venezuela, there is – and its connection to his informal Methamphetamines are quite social climate of disinhibition and the social context of HIV in South At the time of the interview no way to have access to medicine. and formal tourism work. When I common in this setting, according abandonment of sexual norms in Florida. Second, I recruited a (November 13, 2018), Juan had been For me, it would be impossible to asked Fernando if it was common to Fernando. “Actually, sex does not MSM tourism environments. theoretical sample of 36 LMSM in Miami for three years. return to my country now that I have to consume stimulants in his line of make me feel anything anymore,” he This is the reality that immigrant migrant tourism workers and He told me that in 2017 (about a acquired it [the virus].” work, he replied: “No meth at work, recounted. “You do it because of the

36 Hemisphere Volume 29 Hemisphere Volume 29 37 BROADER TRENDS

addiction that the drug has. When interaction. Miguel, a 34-year-old axis or pillar that serves as the spark they mention it, you immediately undocumented immigrant from for this social practice …. There want to smoke.” Argentina working as an informal is a cohesion between them, and tourist guide, summed up the one cannot exist without the other. The social environment of tourism situation in poetic terms: “Tourism Paradise, vacation, sex, drugs; there exacerbates the risk or enables is linked to the sub-world of sex cannot be one without the other.” this kind of “party”/chemsex tourism, [and] the drug factor is the

References CDC. (2019). Diagnoses of HIV Giorgetti, R., Tagliabracci, A., Schifano, Medley, G., Lipari, R., Bose, J., Infection in the United States and F., Zaami, S., Marinelli, E., & Busardò, Cribb, D., Kroutil, L., & McHenry, Dependent Areas, 2018 (Preliminary) F. P. (2017). "When 'Chems' Meet G. (2016). "Sexual Orientation and HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report 2 Sex: A Rising Phenomenon Called Estimates of Adult Substance Use and Vol. 30. Retrieved from http://www.cdc. 'ChemSex.'” Current Neuropharmacology Mental Health: Results from the 2015 gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance. 15(5), 762–770. https://doi.org/10.217 National Survey on Drug Use and With more than 225,000 interviews in 34 countries, html.http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/ 4/1570159x15666161117151148 Health. Retrieved February 25, 2020." LAPOP’s AmericasBarometer is an unparalleled resource for studies, reports/hiv-surveillance.htmlhttp:// With more than 225,000 interviews in 34 countries, GMCVB. (2018). 2018 VISITOR Retrieved from https://www.samhsa. data, and reports on public opinion. wwwn.cdc.gov/dcs/ContactUs/Form INDUSTRY OVERVIEW Visitor gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH- LAPOP’s AmericasBarometer is an unparalleled resource for studies, Egan, J. E., Frye, V., Kurtz, S. P., Profile • Economic Impact • Hotel SexualOrientation-2015/NSDUH- data, and reportswww.vanderbilt.edu/lapop on public opinion. Latkin, C., Chen, M., Tobin, K., … Performance • Jobs. Retrieved from SexualOrientation-2015/NSDUH- Koblin, B. A. (2011). "Migration https://www.miamiandbeaches.com/ SexualOrientation-2015.htm getmedia/1997575f-873e-40c7-b420- www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop Neighborhoods and Networks: NDEWS. (2018). Methamphetamine INSIDE BACK COVER 0745e040cfee/2018-Visitor-Industry- Approaches to Understanding How Highlights. Retrieved from https:// Overview_1.pdf.aspx Urban Environmental Conditions ndews.umd.edu/sentinel-sites/sentinel- Affect Syndemic Adverse Health Guilamo-Ramos, V., Padilla, M., Cedar, sites-reports-and-community-contacts Outcomes among Gay Bisexual and A. L., Lee, J., & Robles, G. (2013). ADVERTISEMENT Other Men Who Have Sex with Men. "HIV Sexual Risk Behavior and Family Padilla, M. B., Guilamo-Ramos, V., AIDS and Behavior 15. https://doi. Dynamics in a Dominican Tourism Bouris, A., & Reyes, A. M. (2010). org/10.1007/s10461-011-9902-5 Town. Archives of Sexual Behavior 42(7), "HIV/AIDS and Tourism in the Fernandez, M. I., Jacobs, R., Warren, 1255–1265. https://doi.org/10.1007/ Caribbean: An Ecological Systems J., Sanchez, J., & Bowen, G. (2009). s10508-012-0064-y Perspective. American Journal of Public Health 100(1), 70–77. https://doi. "Drug Use and Hispanic Men Koblin, B. A., Husnik, M. J., Colfax, org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.161968 Who Have Sex with Men in South G., Huang, Y., Madison, M., Mayer, Florida: Implications for Intervention K., … Buchbinder, S. (2006). "Risk UNAIDS. (2019). UNAIDS DATA Development." AIDS Education and Factors for HIV Infection among Men 2019. Retrieved from unaids.org Prevention : Official Publication of the Who Have Sex with Men." AIDS 20(5), International Society for AIDS Education 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1097/01. José Félix Colón Burgos is a Postdoctoral 21 (5 Suppl), 45–60. https://doi. aids.0000216374.61442.55 Associate at the Center for Research org/10.1521/aeap.2009.21.5_supp.45 Lewis, N. M., & Wilson, K. (2017). on US Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Gilbert, P. A., & Rhodes, S. D. (2013). "HIV Risk Behaviours among Abuse (CRUSADA) at the Robert "HIV Testing among Immigrant Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Gay Stempel School of Public Health at Sexual and Gender Minority Latinos and Bisexual Men in North America Florida International University and in a US Region with Little Historical and Europe: A Systematic Review." a recipient of National Institute on Latino Presence." AIDS Patient Care Social Science and Medicine 179, Minority Health and Health Disparities & STD’s 27(11), 628–636. https://doi. 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. (NIMHD) Research Centers in Minority org/10.1089/apc.2013.0232 socscimed.2017.02.033 Institutions (RCMI) program funding.

38 Hemisphere Volume 29 19186_07/19

who continue to push boundaries and cross borders through their work. their through borders and cross push boundaries who continue to www.tinker.org While our ability to travel and explore became unexpectedly limited this year, year, this limited unexpectedly became and explore travel to While our ability our hemisphere within and understanding continued learning, collaboration all scholars celebrates Foundation Tinker The important. been more has never Through its partners, including FIU LACC, Tinker provides critical funding for critical funding for provides Tinker FIU LACC, including its partners, Through 9000 than more 1979, in Latin America. Since research student field graduate developed have world the US, Latin America and around the from scholars engaged in cutting-edge research, region, the new connections throughout and gained of our hemisphere deeper understanding a to contributed success. career future experience for valuable For over 60 years, the Tinker Foundation has proudly supported supported has proudly Foundation Tinker the years, 60 over For Latin America. transforming and organizations people the