¿Migrantes o refugiados? La Declaración de Cartagena y los venezolanos en Brasil

Political and Legal Responses to Human Mobility in South America in the Context of the Covid-19 Crisis. More Fuel for the Fire?

“…Thus, a second response has been to launch regularization processes in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and more recently in October 2020 in Peru. A third legal tool, mostly used by Braziland to a much lesser extent by Bolivia and Paraguay-has been to recognize Venezuelans as refugees under the extended definition enshrined in the Cartagena declaration (Acosta and Sartoretto, 2020). Fourthly, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru introduced special temporary residence permits, with Colombia offering a new round of such permits in October 2020.…”

Inclusive Language for Exclusive Policies: Restrictive Migration Governance in Chile, 2018

“…Yet South American states choose not to recognize an overall refugee status for Venezuelans, with the recent exception of Brazil (Acosta et al, 2019; Brumat, 2019; Freier, 2018). Considering the Cartagena Declaration, Brazil implemented a fast‐track legal route in December 2019 based on prima facie recognition, for Venezuelans as a group to gain refugee status (Acosta & Madrid, 2020).…”

“…Instead, some states such as Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru have implemented ad‐hoc policies and imposed visas for Venezuelans, as have most recently Bolivia and Ecuador (Acosta & Madrid, 2020); thus “reactions to the resulting migration crisis can best be described as ad‐hoc measures” (Freier & Parent, 2018). Peru offers a Temporary Stay Permit but is backlogged in processing applications; Colombia has a Special Stay Permit for Venezuelans, although the country retrenched, issuing Border Mobility Cards (Freier & Parent, 2018).…”

“…Restrictiveness contradicts the overall South American stance on the right to migrate and a human‐rights approach to migration, as exemplified in the Mercosur Residence Agreement that supports free mobility throughout the region and the signed (non‐binding) agreements at the annual South American Conference on Migration (e.g., Acosta & Finn, 2019; Brumat et al, 2018; Finn et al, 2019). Some neighbor countries, such as Argentina and Uruguay, have chosen to extend the Mercosur Residence Agreement to Venezuelans, as has Brazil, reflected in its new two‐year temporary residency visa for Venezuelans (Acosta & Madrid, 2020).…”

The Cartagena Refugee Definition and Venezuelan Displacement in Latin America1

“…Not only legal and political scholars (Acosta and Madrid Sartoretto, 2020; Bahar and Strauss, 2018; Corredor 2019; Berganza et al., 2018; Berganza et al., 2020; Blouin et al., 2020; Freier, 2018; Gurmendi, 2018; Van Praag, 2019), but also the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Inter‐American Court for Human Rights (IACtHR) have suggested that the broad circumstances leading to the outflow of Venezuelans fall within the parameters of the Cartagena refugee definition (UNHCR, 2018, 2019b), and see its application as a potential solution to the protection challenges that derive from the Venezuelan displacement crisis (IACHR, 2018).…”