ABSTRACT
Latin American migration within the continent has received relatively little attention from scholars in the United States. Researchers tend to focus on migratory patterns between specific Latin American nations and the United States or Canada. Migration within Latin America reached its peak during the 1970s and 1980s and has primarily been, during the past 40 years, a function of economic conditions and political change. Migrants within the region often consider migration as a “temporary” necessity; they can travel overland, and they can return to their country of origin with relative ease. Many factors—geographic proximity, familiarity with language and culture, and familiarity with legal codes and traditions—influence and encourage migration within the region. Economic factors also help explain migration within the region. The 1990s witnessed economic and political instability, as Nicaraguans attempted to reconcile the revolutionary period with more neoliberal market approaches under the leadership of President Violeta Chamorro, elected in 1990.
