Analysis: Has Colombia dived into xenophobia and can it come back from it?

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombia, a country without experience in the massive reception of migrants, may lose the opportunity to take advantage of migration as a contribution to its future, because growing xenophobia and radicalization threaten to break the bridges of understanding between nationals and migrants.

“Colombia has received 35 percent of the total (6 million) of Venezuelan immigration in the world, a number that makes insertion into Colombian society difficult and requires time for both communities to identify and generate development for the country,” Rafael Calles Moreno, a member of the program Strengthening Venezuelan Youth and Leaders for the Democratic Reconstruction of Venezuela, sponsored by the University of Rosario in Colombia and the Avila-Monserrate Association, told DW.

In the midst of economic difficulties, “Colombia has international aid equivalent to only 10% of the resources available to assist Syrian refugees, or US$300 per person per year,” says Calles, a graduate in International Business from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Bucaramanga, Colombia.

The willingness of the international community to provide more humanitarian aid depends a lot on whether the Colombian government advances or slows down the Peace Agreement. Not for nothing will the EU review next May the impact of the European Peace Fund. And in June, an international donor conference will show whether or not Colombia gets more aid for the care of Venezuelan refugees.

Some two million Venezuelans have arrived in Colombia in the last two years. “Poverty is so great in Venezuela that a large part of these migrants arrive in a highly precarious and vulnerable situation, so they suffer from aporophobia (hatred of the poor) by Colombians,” says Calles.

Xenophobia increases migrants’ disadvantages

Although expressions of xenophobia towards Venezuelans have not reached the levels of other countries, there is great concern that this will grow and poison the environment necessary for the integration of refugees and the very future of Colombia.

“Since 2018, the initiative ‘The right not to obey’ fights xenophobia by promoting integration between Venezuelans and host communities,” Alejandro Daly, a professional in Finance, Government and International Relations at the Externado University of Colombia and co-director of Barómetro de Xenofobia, an alliance derived from the experience of “Interpreta”, an NGO that monitors the development of Haitian immigration in Chile, tells DW.

The Xenophobia Barometer has registered a gradual increase and identified four peak moments of xenophobia in Colombia, according to Alejandro Daly: “The first was caused by the words of the mayor of Bogota, Claudia Lopez, who – after the murder of two Colombian workers – said that ‘Venezuelans are making our lives miserable’. The second one was generated by former president Álvaro Uribe who on September 10, 2020 asked in a tweet to the government of Iván Duque ‘to deport vandal foreigners’, referring to the alleged Venezuelan infiltration in the demonstrations against the government”.

Uribe reacted this way to a false news according to which Venezuelans would have hijacked a public service bus in the middle of public protests. “The third peak,” continues the co-director of Barómetro de Xenofobia, “was produced by President Iván Duque when he announced that ‘illegal migrants will not be vaccinated against the coronavirus’. And the fourth, the recent declarations of the mayor of Bogota, who, after the murder of a policeman, asked the central government for ‘protection of Colombians against criminal Venezuelans'”.

After each of those episodes, xenophobic expressions and insults became a trend in social networks, but this last one generated alerts for xenophobic cases in different parts of the capital of Colombia. Why?

“Claudia López’s ability to direct public discourse towards xenophobia is immense, besides holding the second most important public office in the country, she is the political figure with the second largest influence on Twitter in Colombia, after Álvaro Uribe”, notes the co-director of Barómetro de la Xenofobia, who considers it “especially dangerous that López makes a division between Colombians and Venezuelans, because this is a dehumanizing discourse of migrants that validates xenophobic positions.” Additionally, misogynist and homophobic insults, as a reaction to the mayor’s words, are considered by Alejandro Daly “equally reprehensible”.

For Rafael Calles, “just as Lopez’s words deserve rejection, so do the determined actions of Migration Colombia, which has proposed to deport foreigners who commit serious crimes, deserves to be applauded”.

According to Migración Colombia, in 2021 and up to March 13, 86 Venezuelan citizens had been deported, accused of theft in organized gangs. Even so, “two out of every 100 thefts in Bogota are committed by Venezuelans,” says the Venezuela Observatory of the Universidad del Rosario. “For this reason,” adds Rafael Calles Moreno, “political discourse cannot generalize, because it feeds xenophobia and increases the disadvantages of the migrant population.”

Colombians fear “radicalization imported by Venezuelans”

A major point of disagreement between Colombians and Venezuelans, and one of the reasons for skepticism and xenophobia towards migrants from the neighboring country, is the often extreme stance of some Venezuelans against everything that sounds left-wing, social justice and even human rights. In Colombia, a society that seeks to emerge from the conflict towards a concerted peace and that is trying to escape from the trap of political polarization, the radicalism professed by some Venezuelans is disconcerting. Does Iván Duque want to enlarge the right-wing voter base in Colombia with the regularization of Venezuelans? they ask.

“The radicalism of some Venezuelans, as a result of their experience, is indeed a worrying phenomenon for democracy in Latin America, but it is a minority; the majority of migrants do not even have time to reflect on their political values because they are trying to survive,” says the analyst creator of the platform Derecho a No Obedecer (Right not to obey).

Majority of Colombians approve temporary protection for Venezuelan migrants

Regarding the Temporary Protection Statute, to the surprise of the Xenophobia Barometer, “the majority of Colombians reacted positively to Duque’s measure that will allow ‘the integration of our Venezuelan brothers'”, quotes Alejandro Daly. And he adds that, in effect, the criticism comes from those who believe that “the measure is a move by Duque to capture votes.”

Finally, Rafael Calles reiterates that “just as we Venezuelans ourselves are responsible for not closing the doors in the countries that welcome us, we hope that the authorities do not stigmatize us.” Alejandro Daly, for his part, calls on all candidates in the upcoming elections in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the rest of Latin America not to instrumentalize migrants and refugees. “It is important,” Daly concludes, “that public officials, the media, NGOs and civil society do not create or replicate myths that relate migrants to insecurity or other evils, but rather present facts that contribute to integration.” “Otherwise,” he fears, “xenophobia is going to overtake us all.”

Source: DW