Although Colombia and Venezuela share a language, a border and a religion, each country harbors negative cultural biases against the other that, in stressful times, can curdle into xenophobia and prevent migrants from integrating.
While reporting in Colombia in April, WBEZ reporter Chip Mitchell frequently heard bigoted views against Venezuelan migrants that mirrored some of the resentments Chicago residents have expressed over the past two years since asylum-seekers began arriving from Texas.
Such bigotry has emerged in every South American country where Venezuelans have migrated, according to Human Rights Watch researcher Martina Rapido Ragozzino. “There’s this strong gender component in discrimination toward Venezuelans,” she said.
[Read the full story — “What Colombia can teach Chicago about managing a migrant wave” — at wbez.org/colombia.]
🎧 In this audio story, WBEZ reporter Chip Mitchell talks to:
- Desiré Borges, a 17-year-old single mother, who says cruel treatment from teachers in Colombia drove her to drop out of school;
- Pilar Páez, a nurse at a public hospital in Bogotá, who perpetuates bigoted beliefs about Venezuelan culture;
- Economist Liliana Morales Hurtado, who directs a governmental office in Colombia tasked with combating xenophobia nationwide;
- Laura Jiménez Cortés, who works for an organization in Bogotá that uses software to spot xenophobia in the news and social media.
The Democracy Solutions Project is a collaboration among WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times and the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government, with funding support from the Pulitzer Center. Our goal is to help our community of listeners and readers engage with the democratic functions in their lives and cast an informed ballot in the November 2024 election.
