Urban Integration and Transformations: The Case of Colombian-Venezuelan Family Migrations in Colombia.

Colombia has long been characterized by emigration and the circulation of its inhabitants (Dureau et al., 2015). Notably, in the mid-20th century, many Colombians left the country to escape armed conflict and seek better economic opportunities. However, this situation underwent a significant transformation in the late 2010s when the economic, social, and political deterioration in neighboring Venezuela gave rise to a new migratory phenomenon of unprecedented scale within the Latin American region (World Bank, 2018), which international organizations have identified as one of the most severe crises facing Latin America.

This population movement is situated within a tradition of fluid and pendular migration that has characterized the relationship between these two countries for several decades (Moutin, 2012; Fusco et al., 2015; Sierra-Paycha, 2017). It is important to note that among this migrant population are Colombian natives who return to their country of birth after varying lengths of migration in Venezuela. In addition to these migratory flows from Venezuela, there are also return flows from Europe and North America (Córdoba, 2014; Sierra-Paycha, 2016). This convergence of diverse flows makes Colombia a valuable case study for understanding urban integration and the effects of migration on the dynamics within host cities. Various transnational families are navigating and reshaping their differentiated integration strategies within these urban spaces during this new cycle of migration in Latin America.