Eva van Roekel and Marjo de Theije received a small ISR grant to work on an NWA proposal on Resilience within mobility networks and alternative economies during the protracted conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Northern Amazon region.

The protracted conflict and sustained economic crisis in Venezuela are causing political instability and deprivation in the entire Latin American region. Since Venezuela’s oil incomes dropped by half, shortages of food, medicine, water, and energy have produced calamities in basic services and public health, which has led to an exodus of more than 4.3 million Venezuelans. Last two years the borders have frequently been closed to restrain Venezuelans and natural resources leaving and to block good and humanitarian aid coming in from Brazil and Colombia. However, closed borders do not restrain informal transactions. Sustained illegal movements of goods, such as gold and food and people continue.