The Venezuela–Colombia Border: Epicenter of the Hemisphere’s Largest Migratory Crisis during COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19’s pandemic declaration worsened the Táchira–Norte de Santander border as the epicenter of the second largest forced migratory crisis in the world due to the Complex Humanitarian Emergency in Venezuela. COVID-19 changed the direction of the flow from emigration to returned migration, at a border that had already moved from open to semi-open, and since the pandemic, became closed to all formal movements.