Versión Español
EspañolNearly 130,000 Venezuelans crossed the border this weekend in search of food and medicine unavailable in their country.
On Saturday, authorities opened a passage that allowed around 44,000 people to cross the border. Then, on Sunday, over 88,600 more entered Colombia. Of those, 85,584 crossed through the Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Paula Santander bridges that connect Cucuta, Colombia, and San Antonio del Tachira and Ureña, Venezuela
The massive crossing not only allowed thousands of Venezuelans to access the products they needed, but it also drew massive media attention to the humanitarian crisis facing Venezuela.
- Read more: Venezuela’s Socialist-Induced Food Shortages Create Exodus into Colombia
- Read more: Why the Venezuelan Exodus to Colombia Spells the End for Maduro
“The journey has been long,” Marisela Carrillo told El Tiempo as she was crossing the bridge. “We came to buy food, to take sugar, toilet paper, flour and oil. We can’t get any of those things there, and if we get them, the prices are sky-high.”
Meanwhile, a huge fleet of public transport vehicles established special routes to transport Venezuelans to supply centers and supermarkets in Cucuta.
Maritza Castro, a San Cristobal resident in the capital city of the state of Tachira, also traveled on Sunday, July 10, came to buy the most sought-after products, including flour.
The Cucuta Metropolitan Police managed to rescue 5-year-old Angel David, who was lost in the crowd coming from Colombia to Venezuela.
In its Twitter account, the institution shared a video in which the crying boy is reunited with his mother.
Ante la multitud de personas que retornaban a Venezuela rescatamos a Angel David de 5 años que se encontraba perdido pic.twitter.com/lhctTWVtF2
— Policía Metropolitana de Cúcuta (@PoliciaCucuta) July 17, 2016
