The Venezuelan Issue And The Fracture Of Latin American Regionalism

Abstract

The political and economic situation of Venezuela during the government of Nicolás Maduro has provoked a series of diplomatic responses from States around the world and, particularly, from the governments of the American continent. In a context in which the human security of the population is threatened by uncertainty and material shortages, Venezuelan migration to countries such as Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile has grown to an unprecedented scale for the region, leading to an increased internationalization of the crisis, as governments begin to deal with the crisis as an intermestic issue. The institutional reactions by the countries of the region were channelled, at first, through the Organization of American States and later through the so-called Lima Group, complemented also by unilateral sanctions. With the political shift in the governments of the region and the persistence of Venezuela’s internal problems -and their external consequences-, the declarations of condemnation to the Venezuelan government have been progressively more categorical. However, the proposals are divergent, from welcoming the dialogue between government and opposition and putting the emphasis on the human security issues of the affected population, to making direct calls for military intervention into the country.

Keywords: Venezuela, intermestic, human security, migration