A interiorização na Operação Acolhida: migrações internas de venezuelanos no Brasil

Abstract

The movements of migrants and refugees are part of international relationships that pose challenges to receiving countries. In the last decade, Brazil has experienced the massive arrival of Venezuelans through its land borders in the state of Roraima, due to the socio-political and economic crisis in Venezuela. The change in Brazilian migration legislation in 2017, which revoked the Foreigner Statute (Law No. 6.815/1980) frequently associated with national security, introduced provisions for humanizing migrations in the Migration Law No. 13.445/2017. In this context, the presence of Venezuelans in Brazil through internal directed migrations of non-nationals emerges as a strategy for socio-economic opportunities in Brazilian regions, aiming to mitigate the concentration of Venezuelans in the border region. Governance for contemporary Venezuelan migrations was institutionalized in Brazil in 2018 with the creation of the humanitarian reception program Welcome Operation. This Brazilian government response, along with the efforts of international and non-governmental organizations and civil society, addresses social pressures, especially at the border, in the municipality of Pacaraima, and is divided into three axes: border organization, sheltering, and the internalization of non-nationals.This literature review also accessed documents released by Welcome Operation, especially the internalization panel provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as well as news reported in the media. A visit to Operation’s structures in Roraima in November 2021 allowed for qualitative field research and primary source investigation, including interviews with military personnel and members of international and non-governmental organizations working in the program involved in the internalization process of Venezuelans from the political borders of both countries.With the internalization strategy, the issue transcended the border region and represented the interaction of public and private, national and local spheres. The research aims to demonstrate that the presence of Venezuelans in Brazil characterizes internal migrations of Venezuelans as a phenomenon within the context of international migrations from Venezuela to Brazil. It reveals that, although the challenges for staying in Roraima are different from those that prompted the departure from Venezuela, the Welcome Operation program promotes its voluntary internalization strategy by facilitating displacements with multiple domestic destinations, primarily from the North to the South of Brazil.