CSUMB Internationalization Series: Migrant Crisis at the Colombian-Venezuelan Border

Media studies professor, Dr. Estella Porras, presents a journalistic account of the Venezuelan migration crisis and the range of responses from Colombian people, institutions, and media. According to the High Commissioner for United Nations for Refugees, the exodus of more than 7 million Venezuelans is currently the largest migration crisis after the war in Ukraine. From 2019 to 2020, professor Porras spent her sabbatical year in a town near the border between Colombia and Venezuela, where she witnessed the unfolding drama of thousands of migrants crossing daily figuring out how to survive in a new country, during the first year of the Covid pandemic. The stories of Venezuelans on the ground, the gestures of solidarity, the attitudes of the host community, the institutional responses, and the media portrayals of the migrant, show us a complicated picture of the difficulty in responding to a humanitarian crisis in ethical and effective ways.