Venezuelans cross into Colombia en masse to buy food, medicine
Tens of thousands of people from Venezuela have crossed into neighboring Colombia to buy food and medicine amid acute shortages of basic stuff in their own country.
The Venezuelans crossed the border into the city of Cucuta in Colombia’s Norte de Santander department as Venezuelan authorities briefly opened border crossings on Saturday.
The move surprised businesses in Cucuta as the border was expected to be opened on Sunday.
“Right now @GoberNorte is coordinating the passage of thousands of people,” wrote Yebrail Haddad, the government secretary of the Norte de Santander department, on Twitter.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said some 35,000 Venezuelans entered Colombia “in an orderly manner and under conditions of security.” It also said that the border remained opened for eight hours on Saturday and would be opened again on Sunday.
Colombia’s Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said, “We have made a great effort to have sufficient supplies” for the people expected to get into Colombia on Saturday and Sunday.”
Jose Vielma, the governor of the Venezuelan border state of Tachira, said that President Nicolas Maduro supported the move and ordered that people “not be disturbed” when getting into Colombia.
The border was also opened last week and a large number of people flooded the nearby Colombian cities of La Parada and Cucuta and bought much-needed food, medicine and other basic stuff.
Venezuela is suffering from an acute economic crisis. Electricity supplies are low, and working days have been reduced to two days a week only.
Hospitals are said to be in critical need of supplies; some medical devices are broken; and a number of hospitals are even said to be running without enough water to wash away blood from operation beds.
Shortages have been so great and prices so high that some people have resorted to looting stores.
The economic crisis is mainly blamed on Maduro, who in turn accuses foreign powers of being behind his country’s woes.
Maduro has faced protests since 2014, with the opposition vigorously pushing to oust him legally.
The Maduro government has denounced the opposition’s plans as a US-backed attempt to bring about a coup d’état in the country.
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