Migration within Latin America changes face of region

Published: 2004-11-23

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNS) -- Although Scalabrinian Father Ildo Griz's office is in the heart of Argentina's bustling capital, a colorful map of Peru hangs in a prominent place on the wall. As executive secretary of the Argentine Catholic Church's migration ministry office, the Brazilian priest has been tracking the flow of people from other South American countries into Buenos Aires. While migration from Latin America to the United States attracts the most attention, the flow of migrants and refugees within Latin America is also changing the face of the region. Over the past four years, an estimated 350,000 Colombians have poured into neighboring Ecuador, a country of 11 million people, according to Luis Tupac Yupanqui, who heads the Jesuit Refugee Service office in Quito. While many of them have been fleeing Colombia's political violence, other migrants are trying to escape high unemployment in places like Peru and Bolivia, where more than 50 percent of the population lives in poverty. With its reputation for economic growth and stability, throughout the 1990s Argentina was a magnet for thousands of people seeking employment. But the economic crisis of 2001, which brought down the government of President Fernando de la Rua and sent poverty rates skyrocketing, hit the migrants hard. Many returned to their home countries, but they are trickling back, a sign of Argentina's economic recovery and persistent poverty elsewhere in the region.

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