The Colombo-Venezuelan Border Through the Lens of the Colombian Press

The Colombo-Venezuelan Border Through the Lens of the Colombian Press examines the dominant Colombian press coverage of crises of sovereignty at the Colombo-Venezuelan border, Venezuelan migration, and the February 2019 attempt to introduce humanitarian aid into Venezuela, as seen in El Espectador and El Tiempo’s coverage from the period of August 2018-November 2019. Through theories of nations and power, this thesis reveals the divergent editorial lines and dominant narratives within each newspaper’s construction of the relation between the Colombian and Venezuelan nations, states, and their people. The study details how both newspapers construct different “truths” through divergent constructions of similar events in a manner coherent with the ideological affinities and conceptions of Colombian national identity held by their respective audiences and editorial leadership, constrained further by economic factors. The thesis is split into three main chapters. Chapter 1 addresses the construction of Colombian nationhood rooted in militarism and the presentation of the Colombian state as a protector in El Tiempo’s coverage concerning binational tensions at the border. Chapter 2 traces the coverage regarding Venezuelan migration to Colombia within El Espectador, detailing the conception of national identity rooted in liberal-democratic values that the newspaper constructs and appeals to. Chapter 3 considers both newspaper’s coverage of the attempt to introduce humanitarian aid into Venezuela in 2019. Ultimately, this thesis argues that the discursive actor––and construction––of Venezuela permits the “imagining” of the Colombian nation, a project framed through a discussion of the Colombian conflict and official commitments to multiculturalism by the Colombian state.