De ida y vuelta : Le retour des émigrants espagnols du troisiéme age provenant du Venezuela

Resumen

Between 1946 and 1958, because of the economic difficulties in Spain and the oil boom in Venezuela, a large migratory flow of Spaniards to this Caribbean country was generated and encouraged by the immigration policies implemented during the Perez Jimenez dictatorship. During this period, Venezuela was the main destination in Latin America for Spanish emigrants; however, half a century later, the crisis that characterizes 21st-century Venezuela has had the opposite effect, triggering the return of the diaspora to their country of origin. Since 2014, the number of returnees to Spain has increased exponentially; many of them, after working for more than half a century, return without pensions and full of uncertainties. The objective of this essay will be to study the return of Spanish senior citizens from Venezuela, through testimonies that will allow us to define some specific characteristics of this migratory phenomenon. As a conclusion, we can highlight that, as well as the difficulties inherent to all return processes, in that particular case we can add vulnerability factors such as having migrated when under the working age, not having contemplated the need to return, and not being able to count on the social benefits obtained in Venezuela.