Changes in the cross-border mobility of the Wayúu people in the context of the Venezuelan crisis

Abstract

The generalized crisis in Venezuela has manifested itself in several important events, including the change in the migration pattern with the departure of approximately 5 million Venezuelans to different parts of the world, as well as the closure of the border area shared with Colombia decreed by President Nicolás Maduro from August 2015 to September 2016. Both events are part of a context in which the life and mobility of the Wayúu people, ancestral inhabitants of this territory, whose productive and reproductive practices depend on mobility and exchange in this space, have also been altered. This proposal is based on the results obtained in a qualitative study on the changes mentioned above, for which, in addition to the ethnographic exercise of direct observation, 17 interviews were conducted with Wayúu people in Maicao (La Guajira). The main results showed that at least three important transformations can be distinguished in mobility as a life defense strategy. The first is related to a relative lack of (mobility) manifested in the low level of circularity in the border territory. The second is characterized by the more permanent migration of some Wayúu into Colombian territory and the third has to do with the return to the territories. All this allows us to understand borders as socially and culturally produced spaces and mobility as a fundamental practice for living and resisting, especially for cross-border communities.