Protection for Venezuelans in the spirit of Cartagena? An analysis of the spirit of Cartagena and how the protection policies for displaced Venezuelans in Brazil, Colombia and Peru held up to the standard of the spirit of Cartagena

In the midst of the largest exodus in Latin America and months before the fortieth anniversary of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, a discussion of the Latin American regional refugee regime is timely. This study reviews the protection policies of three receiving countries in Latin America during the Venezuelan displacement crisis for the period of 2015-2021. It begins with an over-arching discussion of the role and importance of regional refugee regimes. It continues with a narrowed focus on the Latin American regional refugee regime, centred around the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees. Then, it seeks to close a knowledge gap by defining and attributing elements to the ‘spirit of Cartagena’, an emerging concept stemming from the Cartagena regime. This broader discussion is put into perspective with a case study on the Latin American response to the Venezuelan displacement. The case study focuses on the forms of protection offered to displaced Venezuelans in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Then, an analysis is conducted on whether, and in what ways, the varying policies acted in the ‘spirit of Cartagena’. The analysis uses the defining elements of the ‘spirit of Cartagena’ as a measuring stick against themes of the discussed protection policies. The aim is to evaluate some of the region’s responses to the Venezuelan displacement crisis in the context of the notion of the ‘spirit of Cartagena.’ The conclusion is that a harmonised response within the regional refugee regime was ideal, however the policies were generally ad hoc, complementary, and temporary. Despite this, the pragmatism of the protection measures still reflected some aspects of the ‘spirit of Cartagena’.