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The World Ahead | The Americas in 2025

Pressure to migrate is increasing—but so is the backlash

The struggle over migration in Latin America will deepen in 2025

Venezuelan migrant hugs her children as she crosses the Suchiate River.
Photograph: AP

By Kinley Salmon, Latin America correspondent, The Economist

As 2025 begins, migration in Latin America remains as politically fraught and physically dangerous as ever. The pressure to migrate was highlighted in July when Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president, stole the election and cracked down on protesters. Now Donald Trump’s victory brings the prospect of mass deportations and crackdowns at the Rio Grande. Few countries in Latin America are as crude, but barriers are going up within the region, too.

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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2025 under the headline “Crossing continents”

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