1. matilde campodonico/ap76 AMERICAS quarterly issue 1, 2016
Sharing a laugh: Syrian
refugee Nada Alshebli
(right) jokes with
a Uruguayan companion.
AQ0116F_SYRIA_LAY14B.indd 76 1/13/16 6:29 PM
2. IN LATIN AMERICA
Profiles
Essa Hassan
MEXICO
Alshebli Family
URUGUAY
Ali Jeratli
BRAZIL
Perfect Strangers
The cultural connections
from waves of migration.
Policy
Recommendations
The door is open but
the path is unclear.
SPECIAL
SECTION
The Syrian refugee crisis is one of the great humanitarian causes
of our time. In Latin America, many countries have welcomed migrants
with open arms. In the following pages, AQ looks at the success
stories, the challenges, and the ways all of us could do more to help.
AQ0116F_SYRIA_LAY14B.indd 77 1/13/16 6:29 PM
3. E
SSA HASSAN LANDED
in Mexico City in the
middle of a media storm.
Days after the body of three-
year-old Aylan Kurdi washed
ashore on the coast of Turkey,
Hassan became the unwitting
symbol of Mexico’s efforts — or
lack of them — to assist Syrian
refugees, although plans to get
him to Mexico started long
before the world zeroed in on
the crisis.
Hassan arrived last Sep-
tember through the Proyecto
Habesha, a humanitarian initia-
tive with the goal of bringing
30 Syrians whose studies were
interrupted by the conflict
to complete their education
in Mexico. The first to be
accepted, he quickly found
himself the subject of news
coverage. “I’m still in the news,”
the 26-year-old told AQ.
Hassan’s journey began
in March 2012 after finish-
ing a library sciences degree
at Damascus University. No
longer a student, he had two
choices: leave the country or
fight. He fled to Turkey and
then Lebanon, where he met
Adrián Meléndez, co-founder
of the Proyecto Habesha, which
aims to give students the educa-
tion they need to rebuild Syria.
As Hassan helped translate
materials, he found himself
wishing he could be selected
for the initiative. But his jour-
ney only got more complicated.
Following an influx of refu-
gees to Lebanon, Hassan left for
Italy on a temporary visa and
was stuck there undocumented
for a year. After months of
delays and a stop in Ecuador, he
finally arrived in Mexico.
Today, he studies Spanish
at the Panamerican University
in Aguascalientes. Additional
students were expected to join
him for a “cultural dialogue”
course, but at the time AQ
went to press, no others had
arrived in Mexico. Despite
community support through
its #EnMéxicoSePuede social
media campaign, the Proyecto
Habesha is struggling to raise
funds to bring the other 29.
Meléndez believes the
government could do more.
The Mexican Commission to
Aid Refugees registered just
16 Syrians in 2013 and 2014.
“Mexico has a proud history
of offering asylum,” he said.
“Today there is no action.”
Meanwhile, Hassan is braced
for a long absence from his
homeland. “When you see the
blood, you know it’s not going
to end any time soon,” he says.
He hopes to get a master’s in
social engineering and make a
contribution in Mexico. “The
first goal for me really is to give
something back.”
Carin Zissis is editor-in-chief
of AS/COA Online. She is based in
Mexico City.
| MEXICO
THE LONE STUDENT
by Carin Zissis
78 AMERICAS quarterly issue 1, 2016
firstlastnamecredit
AQ0116F_SYRIA_LAY14.indd 78 1/7/16 6:48 PM
4. ginnette riquelme/reuters
A warm welcome:
Hassan is greeted
upon arrival in Mexico
City (below left).
Proyecto Habesha
uses social media to
garner support (left).
AQ0116F_SYRIA_LAY14.indd 79 1/7/16 6:48 PM
5. U
RUGUAY’S INVITATION in
late 2014 sounded like
a dream to the Alshe-
bli family, who had been living
in a cramped Lebanon apart-
ment for more than a year since
they fled Syria. Not only would
all 17 Alsheblis receive asylum,
they would also be given a spa-
cious new home and two years of
income assistance.
But it didn’t take long for a
series of cultural and finan-
cial shocks to leave them feeling
defeated. A year after arriving,
family patriarch Merhi Alshebli
was still unemployed, his children
were struggling to integrate, and
he felt trapped. During a meeting
with officials to discuss their situ-
ation, he doused himself with fuel
and threatened to light himself on
fire unless Uruguay helped them
leave — even if it meant returning
to Lebanon.
“What can I do to buy food for
all of my children?” the 51-year-
old later said during an interview
with AQ at his government-pro-
vided home in the countryside.
The Alsheblis’ frustration
was not unusual for the 42 Syr-
ians granted asylum by Uruguay
in 2014. Life was pricier than
expected; the Alsheblis’ first elec-
tricity bill consumed much of
their stipend. Rules were strange;
only after investing in a sheep
herd did Merhi learn it was ille-
gal to let them roam free to graze,
forcing him to sell the few that
didn’t starve. Merhi’s daughters
started a street food business, but
a rumor of food poisoning forced
them to close.
By September 2015, they’d had
enough. The Alsheblis and other
Syrians protested in Montevi-
deo, demanding to be relocated.
The government said they were
free to go, although it would not
ask another nation to accept them,
limiting their options. Merhi’s
threat of self-immolation esca-
lated tensions; he was treated for
a nervous breakdown and fined a
month’s worth of assistance.
Despite the strains,
Uruguay plans to accept more
Syrians — although the Alsheblis’
ongoing struggles are a cautionary
tale. As AQ went to press, the
family was negotiating to be
relocated to a farm where
Merhi might raise sheep and
start earning an income before
their government stipend
ends in late 2016. Meanwhile,
Merhi’s children have taken on
the burden of supporting the
family. His 19-year-old daughter,
Nada, found work in a nursing
home, while his 21-year-old son,
Ibrahim, gave up his dream of
studying electronics to work in
construction.
“What will happen when the
government aid runs out?” Ibra-
him wondered. “I spend the days
thinking it over and over.”
Leonardo Haberkorn is a prize-
winning investigative journalist for
the Associated Press in Montevideo.
ALSHEBLI FAMILY | URUGUAY
DREAMS ON HOLD
by Leonardo Haberkorn
matilde campodonico/ap80 AMERICAS quarterly issue 1, 2016
Holding on to hope:
Merhi Alshebli at
Independence Square
in Montevideo.
AQ0116F_SYRIA_LAY14.indd 80 1/7/16 6:48 PM
8. W
HEN ALI JERATLI arrived
in São Paulo in February
2014, the Syrian refugee
understood just one word of Portu-
guese: bem-vindo (welcome). He had
no contacts, no guidebook, and no
more than $700 to make a new start
after fleeing the war in his homeland.
But the outgoing Jeratli, then 26,
possessed resourcefulness, determi-
nation — and a bit of luck. The first
month he was in Brazil, a friendly
conversation at a bar led to an invita-
tion to live with a Brazilian family at
their house on the city outskirts.
Within a few months, Jeratli, one
of more than 2,000 Syrians granted
asylum by Brazil since 2013, had
become proficient in Portuguese
by jumping into every class on offer
from local refugee-assistance organi-
zations. That paid off in spades when
one day on the São Paulo metro he
struck up a conversation with a fellow
rider, who immediately invited him
to a job interview. Jeratli followed the
man into a building where a woman
tested his fluency in Portuguese, Eng-
lish and French.
“Then she told me, ‘congratula-
tions,’” recalled Jeratli, “I said, ‘Why?
Where will I work?’ She said, ‘You’re
going to work at the (2014) World
Cup.’ I told her to pinch me.”
Jeratli, an avid soccer fan, was hired
to give translation assistance to inter-
national attendees to all six matches
in São Paulo, even getting on-field
access. “This is one point in your life
you’re going to remember forever,”
Jeratli said. “You’re going to say to
your son and to everybody how you
were at the World Cup.”
His language skills have since led
to jobs teaching English and Arabic
at the local language school Abraço
Cultural, which employs refugees
as teachers. Jeratli said he would
like to return to his former profes-
sion in hotel management, but local
businesses won’t recognize his for-
eign university degree and a national
recession has undermined the job
market. Still, with the money he’s
saving, Jeratli hopes to get his own
apartment and fly his parents and sis-
ters to São Paulo from Syria — unless
the war’s end allows him to return
there first. “Even in paradise,” he said,
“a Syrian would say: I want to go back.”
Until then, nostalgia won’t stop Jer-
atli from embracing Brazil. Reflecting
on his first two years in his adopted
country, Jeratli believes he has found
success by learning the language and
culture of his new compatriots and
embracing Brazil’s extraordinary hos-
pitality. He is now imparting those
lessons as Brazil expects thousands
more Syrians to arrive. Jeratli pitches
in at several São Paulo organizations
that provide refugees with social
assistance and language training. “I’m
trying to help them,” he explained,
“because I know what it’s like when
you’re alone and know nothing.”
Stephen Kurczy is a special
correspondent to Americas Quarterly
and is based in Rio de Janeiro.
ALI JERATLI | BRAZIL
A WORLD CUP
SUCCESS STORY
by Stephen Kurczy
paulo fridman issue 1, 2016 AMERICAS quarterly 83
On the go: Jeratli
(left) helps newly
arrived refugees
adjust in São Paulo.
AQ0116F_SYRIA_LAY14B.indd 83 1/13/16 6:29 PM
9. 84 AMERICAS quarterly issue 1, 2016
mahmoudsaleh/anadoluagency/getty;jorgealfonso/wikimedia
Syrian refugees
watch the 2014
World Cup on TV
in Lebanon (left).
A yerba mate
gourd (below).
T
HE FIRST TIME I STEPPED into a Syrian
home, I was greeted by a family drink-
ing Argentine yerba mate and watching
a popular Mexican soap opera dubbed
into Arabic. It was the summer of 1998, and I was
in Syria researching Levantine migration to Latin
America. Evidence of that migration wasn’t hard
to find. As that year’s World Cup got under way,
Brazilian flags unfurled from many balconies in
Damascus — in honor of relatives who had moved to
São Paulo and other Brazilian cities.
Those family ties stretch back as much as 150
years. Arabs have been migrating to Latin America,
establishing cultural connections, and contribut-
ing to Latin America’s development since the 19th
century. Today’s influx of Syrian refugees — while a
new source of debate — is only the latest chapter in
a long history.
The first wave of Middle Eastern migration
to Latin America lasted from the 1860s through
1914, when about 600,000 Arabic speakers from
the Levant resettled in the Americas, spurred by
socioeconomic and demographic factors that con-
verged with the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
Subsequently, the 1948 establishment of Israel,
the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), and related
conflicts fueled new waves — particularly to Chile,
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
Some migrants later returned to their home
countries, bringing back with them traces of Latin
Perfect Strangers
THE SURPRISINGLY DEEP CENTURY-OLD TIES
BETWEEN LATIN AMERICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
by Christina Civantos
AQ0116F_CIVAN_LAY10.indd 84 1/7/16 8:02 PM
10. issue 1, 2016 AMERICAS quarterly 85
tomstoddartarchive/getty;jeffkravitz/filmmagic/getty
America, such as mate and even given names. In
Damascus I met a Syrian student named Mario whose
brother and sister were Marco and Caro. Later, I dis-
covered that half the inhabitants of Mario’s village
had a close family member who lived, or had lived, in
Venezuela — drawn there by the country’s oil boom
(1950s–1970s).
Returning migrants may have been influenced
by early 20th century ethnic tensions that, in some
countries, took the form of discriminatory social,
legal, and/or immigration practices. In Argentina,
for example, the stereotype of the “wily” Levan-
tine immigrant peddler created a lasting association
between “turcos” (immigrants from the Ottoman
Empire) and corruption. Hence, the corruption
scandals of former Argentine President Carlos
Menem — nicknamed “el turco” despite being the
son of Syrian Muslim immigrants — were blamed
by some on his ethnoreligious origins.
Nonetheless, positive associations with
Arab immigration to Latin America are
forged by figures such as Mexican billion-
aire Carlos Slim and Colombian superstar
Shakira, both of Lebanese extraction. Help-
ing to open the door for today’s Middle
East migrants, Shakira has called the cur-
rent displacement of Syrians “one of the
greatest humanitarian crises of our time” and
summoned the world to action. Building on
historical ties, Latin America is well-positioned
to respond positively to her plea.
Christina Civantos is a researcher and associate
professor of 19th- and 20th-century Spanish
American and Arabic literature and culture at the
University of Miami.
Palestinian refu-
gees stand in
line at a camp in
Lebanon during the
Lebanese Civil War.
Colombian singer
Shakira has called
on nations to
work together to
address the crisis.
Today’s influx
of Syrian
refugees is only
the latest
chapter in a
long history.
AQ0116F_CIVAN_LAY10.indd 85 1/12/16 7:48 PM
11. 86 AMERICAS quarterly issue 1, 2016
Experts from across the region recommend ways to improve
refugee resettlement.
by Stephen Kurczy and Sarah Bons
1Coordinateregionalresponse.Latin Amer-
ica has already shown the ability to come
together on this issue, agreeing in Decem-
ber 2014 on a regional plan to assist refugees. But
since then, the response to the Syrian crisis has
been fragmented, said Renata de Melo Rosa of
University Center of Brasília. A new regionwide
summit would be helpful in building consensus. A
roundtable could highlight best practices, address
political tensions, and recognize limitations indi-
vidual countries face. For example, Colombia,
which has taken in approximately 100 Syrians,
lacks capacity to accept a large number of foreign
refugees, given its approximately 6 million people
displaced internally, said Stephane Jaquemet, rep-
resentative of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in Colombia.
“Some people still
think refugees
are running away
because they
owe some money,
and we have
to make them
realize that
they’re running
for their lives.”
—André Fabrin
de Almeida Leitão
5IDEASTO BOOST LATIN AMERICAN
REFUGEE POLICY
M
ANY LATIN AMERICAN coun-
tries deserve the world’s gratitude
for opening their doors to Syrian
refugees. Their generosity and
humanity stand out at a time when many other
countries are turning people away.
But what happens after the refugees arrive?
How can governments help new arrivals get jobs,
avoid discrimination, and prosper over time?
AQ asked experts from across Latin America and
interviewed several recently arrived refugees in an
effort to gather recommendations and best prac-
tices — many of which don’t cost much money.
Here are a few of the suggestions we heard.
imagescourtesyoftheauthors
AQ0116F_POL_LAY10.indd 86 1/7/16 8:05 PM
12. issue 1, 2016 AMERICAS quarterly 87
Maria Cristina
Morelli
Stephane
Jaquemet
Luisa Feline
Freier
2Combatmisinformation.
Many countries have
embraced campaigns
to inform their citizens why
Syrians are seeking asylum. But
misinformation and misunder-
standings persist. “Some people
still think refugees are run-
ning away because they owe some money, and we
have to make them realize that they’re running
for their lives,” said André Fabrin de Almeida
Leitão, founder of a nonprofit assisting Syrians in
São Paulo. Similarly, refugees should be informed
about cost of living, job availability, and basic cus-
toms in their destination country.
3Streamlinebureaucracy. Brazil’s fast-track
humanitarian visa allows Syrians to get a visa
within days and “is recognized by UNHCR as
an example to the region and the world,” said Luiz
Fernando Godinho Santos, the agency’s spokes-
person in Brazil. Other bureaucratic processes,
such as work documentation, could be sped up,
added Maria Cristina Morelli of the Reference
Center for Refugees at Caritas Arquidiocesana de
São Paulo. But beware of negative side effects from
trying to shorten bureaucratic processes, warned
Luisa Feline Freier of Pacific
University in Peru. She cited how
Ecuador in 2012 created unrealis-
tically short application deadlines
for asylum seekers, preventing
many from gaining refugee status
until the system was reformed
again in 2014.
4Supplybasicinfrastructure.In hubs like
São Paulo and Buenos Aires, establishing
large-capacity welcome centers could help
integrate refugees into national systems and pro-
vide relief to overwhelmed local organizations.
The São Paulo branch of Caritas, for example,
received 6,629 refugees and asylum-seekers from
1993 to 2014; in just the first half of 2015, that
figure skyrocketed to 5,644, stretching staff thin
and creating a backlog of requests. “We could have
an area where we could receive these people with
more dignity,” said Leitão.
5Providetoolstosucceed.
Access to basic needs,
such as housing, language
instruction, schooling, health
screening, vocational training
and career services, are crucial
for integration, all experts agree.
This can be challenging for
cash-strapped governments, but budget-friendly
approaches exist. In Brazil, the nonprofit Abraço
Cultural trains refugees to be foreign language
teachers. In Mexico, Proyecto Habesha is work-
ing to bring a group of Syrian students to finish
university in order to help reconstruct Syria post-
conflict. Jaquemet offered another low-cost idea:
Establish a sponsorship program so families or cul-
tural centers provide temporary shelter and other
assistance, as Canada is doing.
Stephen Kurczy is a special correspondent to
AQ and is based in Rio de Janeiro. Sarah Bons is an
editor at AQ.
“Brazil’s fast-track
visa is recognized
by UNHCR as an
example to
the region and
the world.”
—Luiz Fernando
Godinho Santos
AQ0116F_POL_LAY10.indd 87 1/7/16 8:05 PM
