The Latin American Report # 454

Stories continue to emerge of the reverse migration process undertaken by Latin American migrants who have had the door slammed in their faces by Trump, most of them Venezuelans. The Spanish news agency EFE counted more than 200 people in Cartí, in the indigenous district of Guna Yala, Panama, waiting to take a boat to Puerto Obaldía, a southern border area with Colombia. An 8-year-old Venezuelan girl died in a shipwreck reported last Friday, which reveals that we are facing a situation demanding attention to the human rights of migrants. However, on the contrary, this reverse flow reveals a certain xenophobia within Latin America itself, with Panama denying passage to migrants according to some reports. “The opportunity [to reach the U.S.] was not given, but I don't regret [trying]. I will never regret it. I have gone through work, quite a lot. Now the return has been harder, even more expensive, but well, at least I made an attempt”, said resigned a Venezuelan almost in Caribbean waters. His final expression is very similar to that of the last Venezuelan who got off the plane with 176 deportees from Guantanamo that landed in Caracas last week: “At least I learned English”.

The Venezuelan migrant interviewed by EFE reveals that he spent 6 months in the CBP One lottery. Even though following this route—ended by the Trump administration—many managed to enter the United States “legally”, it was a sort of game of chance in which many were stuck and subjected to unspeakable stress, although this migrant from the oil-rich nation says that he did not do badly working in Mexico. However, many return to the South but not exactly thinking of Venezuela as the final destination, if perhaps as a technical stopover for a few months. This despite the good winds blowing in terms of relations with the United States, in another rudder turn of Trump's foreign policy. “My goal was to get to the United States to then bring my children, but [the 47h] closed the border and it was not possible. I had to go back to Venezuela and wait a little while to return to Chile,” says a 36-year-old Venezuelan woman who regrets having left Chile. The experience she narrates about the drama of irregular migration is compelling: “[I] do not recommend it to anyone. It is the worst thing. You see everything: deaths, rapes, they rob you, they grope you, they touch you”. She even claims to be the victim of a kidnapping attempt.

On Monday, journalists from the British Reuters saw dozens of Venezuelans boarding small boats from a tiny, electrically unplugged island in the Guna Yala Archipelago, where they pay $10 per day rent. The authorities in the Guna Yala district warn about the impact of this reverse migratory flow on their communities. The so-called Gunayala General Congress asks that the ad hoc passage be cut off because there are no resources to manage what is happening. “We have been surprised that our territory, especially the sea route, has become a migratory route for South American brothers and sisters who are returning to their countries of origin,” the community body said. Migrants insist that Panamanian officials are being opaque about deportation opportunities, although I understand that Venezuela—since it is the main destination of these migrants—could coordinate some strategy with the mediation of a third country, given the current suspension of diplomatic relations, which include the blocking of the air connection. From the Herons Palace, there was some talk of taking Venezuelan migrants to the Colombian city of Cúcuta, but nothing seems to have materialized in this sense. Other migrants deported by the United States, in this case Asians, have complained about the conditions in which they have been housed in Panama.

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Richard Grenell speaking about Trump´s approach to regime-change efforts 👇. It is quite interesting. This rationale will be applied to Cuba?

Mexico-related