Violent Contexts and “Crisis” in Mexico-Central America and Colombia-Venezuela Cross-Border Dynamics, 2010–2020

Abstract

The complex combination of forced and voluntary migration is frequently associated with a purported “migration crisis”; this phenomenon compels us to examine the conditions that impact migrants and deepen their already precarious situation, frequently aggravated by a context of violence. We begin by examining the circumstances that underlie the growing and persistent migration of Central Americans to North America via Mexico, as well as the growing migration of Venezuelans to Colombia. Based on these two scenarios, we conducted our study using a comparative perspective in order to understand the nature of the changes in cross-border dynamics by examining the differential role of violence, state actions, and social response. We understand violence as a triggering mechanism of persistent mobility and as a strategy to control border flows, which is frequently instrumentalized using policies that lead to the violation of human rights. In this context, the ambivalence of migration policies involving the adoption of restrictive and control measures for populations on the move, as well as social actions that provide assistance and protection to migrants, stands out.