The Venezuelan Lgbtq+ Community in Ecuador: Homophobia And Xenophobia?

According to data from the UN Refugee Agency-UNHCR- (2021), so far more than 4 million Venezuelans have been displaced abroad, representing 16% of forced migration worldwide. Even more worrying, by 2022-2023 these figures are projected to double. The factors that have brought about the Venezuelan exodus are the result of socio-economic and political conflicts that have been going on for years. As a result, Ecuador has been one of the countries with a large number of Venezuelan migrants, and cities such as Cuenca, Quito, and Guayaquil, as those with the highest economic growth, are important centers where these migrants settle or use them as transit cities to reach Peru (Condori, et al., 2020), the second country with the second highest rate of registered migrants due to its economic and commercial dynamics. In this context, there is also an evident social problem with migration, and it is the increase of the LGBTIQ+ community in the different countries that are destinations for Venezuelan citizens, which has caused the urgent need for public policies that can be used to control discrimination against this group within each country. This study presents the analysis of discrimination against a migratory group such as Venezuelans in Ecuador and the facets of discrimination also exercised against the LGBTIQ+ community within these migratory waves in the country. In this initial perspective, we have the existence of the relationship of Venezuelan and Ecuadorian society with the LGBTIQ+ community that historically has not been very good, specifically in Venezuela, where homophobia and machismo stand out as visible and commonly accepted forms of discrimination within concrete social environments in which the members of these communities lack the necessary resources at a formative level within their development. Taking into account that discrimination, is interpreted by attitudes that are socially linked to a concept of discrepancy with traditionally established standards in terms of gender identity and sexual orientation, on the other hand, machismo is understood as behaviors proper to the archetypal social construction of masculinity superior.