Regional organizations confronting polycrisis in Latin America and the Caribbean: an initial exploration

This exploratory paper brings regionalism into dialogue with the polycrisis framework by examining how selected Latin American and Caribbean regional organizations responded to interconnected political, migration, social, and public-health crises centered on Venezuela. Using Lawrence et al.'s model of inter-systemic feedback loops as a heuristic device, the paper first establishes that economic collapse, authoritarian entrenchment, mass displacement, xenophobic backlash, and COVID-19 formed a regional polycrisis rather than parallel crises. It then analyses whether regional organizations addressed these linkages or treated them as separate policy problems. Based on qualitative document analysis of the OAS, UNASUR, Mercosur, CELAC, and relevant ad hoc mechanisms, the study finds that responses were largely fragmented across political-institutional, migration, and health domains. Ideological polarization, asymmetrical exposure, weak enforcement, siloed mandates, and piecemeal institutional adaptation limited coordinated multidimensional action. The article shows that Latin American and Caribbean regionalism struggled to match interconnected crisis dynamics with integrated governance responses.