Latin American Responses to the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan Migration Crises

AGENDA & SPEAKERS

8:30 – 8:45 AM: Welcome Remarks and Overview

• Andrew Selee, President, Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
   

8:45 – 10:15 AM: Regional Responses to Venezuelan Migration (Panel 1)

• Frieda Roxana Del Águila Tuesta, Superintendent of Migration, Peru
• Christian Krüger Sarmiento, Director, Migration Colombia
• Andrés Alfonso Ramírez Silva, Director, Mexican Refugee Commission (COMAR)
• Hernán Yánez González, Under Secretary of International Protection and Assistance for Immigrants, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador
• Jose Tomás Vicuña, National Director, Servicio Jesuita de Migrantes, Chile
• Raísa Ortiz Cetra, Member, International Team, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Argentina
• Moderator: Andrew Selee, President, MPI

10:30 – 11:30 AM : Regional Responses to Nicaraguan Outflows (Panel 2)

• Carlos Andrés Torres Salas, Vice Minister of the Interior and Police, Costa Rica
• Harold Villegas-Román, Advisor to the Vice Minister of the Interior and Police; and Commissioner, Restricted Visa and Refugee Commission, Costa Rica
• Alberto Cortés Ramos, Professor, Political Science Department, University of Costa Rica
• Moderator: Manuel Orozco, Director, Migration, Remittances, and Development Program, Inter-American Dialogue

11:30 AM – 12:45 PM:  The International Response to the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan Humanitarian Crises (Panel 3)

• Chiara Cardoletti-Carroll, Deputy Regional Representative for the United States and the Caribbean, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• Luca Dall’Oglio, Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM) USA
• Dana Francis, Director, Office of Assistance for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of State
• Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Director, Department of Social Inclusion, Organization of American States (OAS)
• Moderator: Juan F. Jiménez Mayor, former Prime Minister and former Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Peru

12:45 – 1:00 PM: New Approaches toward Protection and Integration in the Region?

• Diego Chaves, Visiting Fellow, MPI
• Jessica Bolter, Associate Policy Analyst, MPI

As crises continue to unfold in Venezuela and Nicaragua, more than 4.5 million people have left both of those countries, with most settling in neighboring countries in the region. To date, Latin American countries have generally responded by finding pragmatic ways to receive and integrate migrants and refugees from Venezuela and Nicaragua.

This series of panel discussions examines the challenges ahead as countries in the region seek to chart future strategies for responding to large-scale forced migration flows. Leading policymakers and key stakeholders from the region, as well as representatives of major international institutions involved with the regional response, offer their views on changing entry requirements; legal pathways and asylum processes; access to education, health care, and public services; and the opportunities and challenges that these migration flows present for the future of the region.