PAMPLONA, COLUMBIA – Elizar Hernandez fell asleep on the sidewalk amid light drizzle, temperatures that kept getting colder, and the roar of passing trucks.
The 23-year-old Venezuelan expatriate was trying to gain entry to the Colombian city of Madeleine with his wife, who was seven months pregnant.
But the couple ran out of money for transportation until they reached Pamplona, a small mountain town 300 miles (482 km) from their final destination. Unable to buy a bus ticket, Hernandez gave up hope of catching a ride in the back of the truck. It was the safest way to cross the Paramo de Berlin, a freezing plateau located at 13,000 feet (4,000 meters).
“My wife can barely walk,” said Hernandez, who spent four days sleeping on the sidewalk of Pamplona. “We need transportation to get out of here.”
After months of the Covid-1 lockdown, which has halted the world’s largest migration movement in recent years, Venezuelans are once again escaping their country’s economic and humanitarian crisis.
However, despite the low number of Venezuelan migrants, Colombian immigration officials expect 200,000 Venezuelans to enter the country next month, attracted by the prospect of sending money back to Venezuela to feed their families. .
New migrants are facing decisively more adverse conditions than those who fled their homeland before COVID-19. Shelters remain closed, drivers are more reluctant to pick up hitchhikers and locals who are less likely to help donate to victims of infectious danger.
“After traveling for 27 days with the family, we came to the Colombian capital,” said Anahir Montila, a Venezuelan state chef. “
Before the epidemic, more than 5 million Venezuelans had fled their country, the United Nations says. The poorest left side in the foot, passing through a region that is always glowing, can also get colder.
As South American governments shut down their economies in hopes of stopping the spread of COVID-19, many migrants found themselves jobless. More than 100,000 Venezuelans returned to their home country, with at least a roof over their heads.
Today, official land and bridge crossings in Colombia are still closed, forcing migrants to flee illegal routes in Venezuela’s 1,370-mile (2,200-kilometer) porous part. Dust roads are controlled by violent drug trafficking groups and rebel organizations such as the National Liberation Army.
“Even though the border is closed, Venezuelan migrants are already returning,” said Anna Milena Guerrero, an official with the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian non-profit organization that helps foreigners.
Moreover, declining transport between cities has now forced many to travel to their own country for several days to reach the border.
Hernandez said it took him a week to travel from his hometown of Los Tex to Colombia.
“I can’t allow my daughter to be born in a place where she can sleep in a hungry bed,” he said, while registering with a humanitarian group, which provided food and hats for the cold weather.
Once in Columbia, migrants usually walk along the highway or wait for a hitch in the ride. But it has also become harder.
“It’s been very tough,” said Montilla, who was still 200 miles (321 km) from the destination. “But at least with a job in Colombia, we can offer new shoes and clothes. We could not do that in Venezuela. ”
A long road connecting the border town of Kukuta to Bucaramanga was housed in 11 shelters for transportation. Most have been ordered off by municipal governments in an attempt to contain coronavirus infection.
Before the epidemic broke out, Douglas Cabeza had set up a shed next to his home in Pamplona with about 200 displaced people in one night. Now he lends a gym mattress to people sleeping outside, hoping to give him some protection from the cold.
“There are a lot of needs that have not been met,” Kabeza said. “But with small gestures like this, we’re trying to do something for them.”
Once the migrants reached their destination, a new list of concerns was set. Colombia’s unemployment rate rose from 12% in March to about 16% in August. People who can’t pay rent have been evicted from their homes. More complicated, more than half of Colombia’s Venezuelans do not have legal status.
However, for many, the prospect of earning even less than the minimum wage has gained momentum. Colombia’s monthly minimum wage is currently much higher than Venezuela’s monthly $ 2.
Hernandez worked as a street vendor in Venezuela, selling cakes baked by his wife. But money for food was becoming increasingly scarce, prompting the couple to travel 860 miles (1,384-kilometers) to Madeleine.
“I am Venezuela and I love my country,” he said. “But living there has become impossible.”
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