Open Doors? Cross-border itineraries of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, Ecuador & Peru

With an estimated 4.9 million Venezuelans on the move in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean, the region is experiencing one of the most important migratory movements of its history. Despite the importance of this exodus, Venezuelan migration, as south-south migration broadly,has been under-researched in Anglophone human geography and migration studies. And while emerging studies of borders and bordering in South America has been carried, current work lacks a detailed engagement with the experiences of migrants traversing, and making sense of, such diverse bordering regimes and practices. The proposed research examines how Venezuelan migrants plan and define their itineraries in three borders cities between Peru, Ecuador and Colombia as South American countries change their border and migration policies. Utilising a migrant centred approach, this study will develop a novel understanding of the complex and multi-faceted itineraries that shape migrant experiences. I will study the ongoing itineraries focusing on places in-between: borders cities where itineraries are prepared, changed and challenged by different factors including
border controls. I will focus on the three most transited border zones: Tumbes (border between Peru and Ecuador), Rumichaca (border between Ecuador and Colombia) and Cúcuta (border between Colombia and Venezuela). Using itineraries as both a conceptual and a methodological tool will shed light on the importance of analysing migrants' practices in rethinking borders and transit places in South America. This research will contribute a novel empirical analysis of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, expanding research on itineraries and borders in an understudied geographical area.