South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southern subregion of a single continent called America.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.
Latin American cuisine is the typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin America. Latin America is a highly diverse area of land whose nations have varying cuisines. Some items typical of Latin American cuisine include maize-based dishes arepas, pupusas, tacos, tamales, tortillas and various salsas and other condiments. Sofrito, a culinary term that originally referred to a specific combination of sautéed or braised aromatics, exists in Latin American cuisine. It refers to a sauce of tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, garlic, onions and herbs. Rice and beans are also staples in Latin American cuisine.
The Union of South American Nations and sometimes referred to as the South American Union) is an intergovernmental regional organization set up by Hugo Chavez to counteract the influence of the United States in the region. It once comprised twelve South American countries; as of 2019, most have withdrawn.
Arepa is a type of food made of ground maize dough stuffed with a filling, eaten in the northern region of South America since pre-Columbian times, and notable primarily in the cuisine of Colombia and Venezuela, but also present in the cuisines of Bolivia, Panama and other countries.
Cachapa is a traditional dish made from maize flour from Venezuela. Like arepas, they are popular at roadside stands. They can be made like pancakes of fresh corn dough, or wrapped in dry corn leaves and boiled. The most common varieties are made with fresh ground corn mixed into a thick batter and cooked on a budare, like pancakes; the cachapa is slightly thicker and lumpier because of the pieces from corn kernels.
Immigration to Argentina began in several millennia BCE with the arrival of different populations from Asia to the Americas through Beringia, according to the most accepted theories, and were slowly populating the Americas. Upon arrival of the Spaniards, the native inhabitants of Argentine territory were approximately 300,000 people belonging to many Indigenous American civilizations, cultures, and tribes.
Most visitors to Ecuador can enter the country without a visa. However, some visitors of certain countries must first obtain a visa in advance before being allowed to enter the country. Visitors may stay up to 90 days, except citizens of Peru, who are allowed a maximum stay of 180 days, and citizens of China who are allowed to stay for 90 days per calendar year. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 6 months, except for citizens of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Citizens of those countries can also enter Ecuador with ID card.
Currently, Mercosur is composed of five full members, five associated countries and two observer countries:
The cuisine of Paraguay is the set of dishes and culinary techniques of Paraguay. It has a marked influence of the Guaraní people, in fusion with the Spanish cuisine and other marked influences coming from the immigration received by bordering countries such as Italian cuisine and Portuguese food. The gastronomy product of the syncretism and Hispanic-Guaraní fusion, is of greater weight in the Paraguayan history and considered the mother of the whole region, having Asunción as the starting point of many Spanish expeditions in the Southern Cone. It is worth clarifying that in society Paraguayan, the exchange of knowledge occurred between mestizos, criollos and guaraníes, before and even after the Jesuit missions. In 2017, the Ministry of the National Secretariat of Culture of Paraguay decided:
"Declare as 'Intangible Cultural Heritage of Paraguay' the production, handcrafted and traditional production of four typical Paraguayan meals still in force such as vori-vori, locro, Paraguayan soup and jopara and its recipes, knowledge, practices and knowledge that are passed down from generation to generation and document the material and immaterial elements associated with it as a cultural manifestation. "
The Venezuelan migration and refugee crisis, the largest recorded refugee crisis in the Americas, refers to the emigration of millions of Venezuelans from their native country during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro because of the Bolivarian Revolution. The revolution was an attempt by Chávez and later Maduro to establish a cultural and political hegemony, which culminated in the crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela. The resulting refugee crisis has been compared to those faced by Cuban exiles, Syrian refugees and those affected by the European migrant crisis. The Bolivarian government has denied any migratory crisis, stating that the United Nations and others are attempting to justify foreign intervention within Venezuela.
The Venezuelan diaspora refers to Venezuelan citizens living outside Venezuela. In times of economic and political crisis since the 2010s, Venezuelans have often fled to other American countries to establish a more sustainable life.
Venezuelan Brazilians are individuals of full, partial, or predominantly Venezuelan ancestry, or a Venezuelan-born person residing in Brazil. Until the early 2010s, the immigration of this group was little expressive compared to the immigration of other South American peoples such as Argentines, Bolivians or Paraguayans. However, the crisis in Venezuela and the subsequent refugee crisis has led to Brazil becoming home to a large number of Venezuelan refugees, most of whom enter the border through the northern state of Roraima. By the beginning of the 2020, more than 200,000 of Venezuelans have migrated to the country looking for refuge.
Diplomatic relations between Argentina and Venezuela, have existed for decades.
Venezuelan Argentines are Argentine citizens of partial or full Venezuelan descent, or Venezuelan citizens who have migrated to and settled in Argentina. As of 2021, there are 179,203 Venezuelans living in Argentina, most of whom migrated during the latter half of the 2010s as part of the Venezuelan refugee crisis. The last census held in Argentina, in 2010, registered only 6,000 Venezuelan migrants living in the country.
As of January 2021, there are 2,480,373 South Americans in Spain and 624,034 Central American or Caribbean people in Spain. Flows of migration have been dependent on the economic conditions in their countries of birth and in Spain.
The Office of International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General's Special Envoy for the Regional Response to the Venezuela Situation (OSE) is based in Panama City, Panama, and leads the coordination and operational oversight for 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean operating under the framework of the Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP), while serving as co-lead with UNHCR of the Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants (R4V).
The Quito Process is the definition given to a group of Latin American countries to respond to the Venezuelan migration crisis, this multilateral instance was established after the so-called Quito Declaration, officially called Declaration of Quito on human mobility of Venezuelan citizens in the region, on September 4, 2018 in the homonymous capital, where representatives of 13 countries met with the aim of exchanging information and articulate regional coordination to the Venezuelan refugee crisis. On 23 November 2018, the Quito Plan was signed, which includes deepening the mechanisms of Venezuelan migration, international financial cooperation and the articulation with international agencies. A third meeting was held on April 8 and 9, 2019.
