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Inside Colombia and Venezuela’s Border and Refugee Crisis

5 minute read

This Colombian frontier outpost normally hums with shoppers, money-changers and lines of vehicles snaking across the international bridge to Venezuela. But now the border is closed, stores are shuttered, and local officials are scurrying to build temporary shelters for a flood of Colombian migrants fleeing Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the border closed on Aug. 19. He said drastic measures were required to stop Colombian smugglers whom he blames for causing acute food shortages in his country. Maduro has dispatched thousands of soldiers and declared a state of emergency along Venezuela’s western border with Colombia. Police and National Guard troops have carried out mass arrests, deported 1,400 Colombians and have bulldozed some of their homes on the Venezuelan side of the border.

Amid the rising xenophobia, another 17,000 Colombians living in Venezuela have fled back to their homeland voluntarily. With the normal land crossings sealed, many returnees have opted to wade across the knee-deep Táchira River that forms the border, carrying children, duffle bags, sofas and refrigerators. The exodus prompted Fabrizio Hothschild, who heads the United Nations mission in Colombia, to describe the situation as a “humanitarian crisis.”

“We are neighbors but there is a lot of persecution coming from a brother country,” says Jorge Zalamea, a Colombian carpenter who lived in Venezuela for 37 years. He crossed the river last week and now resides in a shelter here made up of rows of tents on an outdoor basketball court.

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In another tent, farmer Eustoquio Rivera said that this is the second time he’s been uprooted. He fled to Venezuela in 2011 after Colombian rebels forced him off his land at gunpoint. At the time, the Venezuelan economy was healthier and Rivera found work as a farm hand. But he lacked residency papers and was deported last week. Rivera left behind his wife and infant son, so he plans to sneak back into Venezuela. “I can’t lose my family again,” he says as tears rolled down his cheek.

The crisis began last month after unknown gunmen shot and wounded three Venezuelan border police. The agents were looking for smugglers who buy subsidized rice, milk and other staples at dirt-cheap prices in Venezuela then resell them in Colombia for huge profits. President Maduro claims Colombian smuggling rings are part of a larger “economic war” that is being waged against his socialist government and is creating the food shortages.

Referring last week to his draconian border policy, Maduro said: “First you apply the tourniquet to stop the bleeding and then you cure the wound. This will protect our people from the attacks of paramilitaries, smugglers and drug traffickers.”

After Hugo Chávez: Photographer Searches for Venezuelan Identity

Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
A group of children in front of graffiti of Hugo Chávez, during a school trip to the location of the former president’s remains. Caracas, May 2013.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
The coffin of former President Hugo Chávez is surrounded by thousands of people the day after he died. Caracas, March 2013.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
Women shout slogans against Venezuela's opposition during a political rally in front of the national parliament. Caracas, November 2013.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
A kid covers his face during the eviction of his family by the National Guard. The eviction was rationalized by the expansion of the main highway of Caracas, but several months later the highway remained the same. May 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
A man repairs an old car in the neighborhood called "The Cemetery." The shortage of car parts due to the economic crisis has made repairs too expensive. Caracas, January 2015.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Empty shelves at a government supermarket in Caracas. January 2015.
Government-run supermarket in Caracas. January 2015.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
A soldier stands watch in the streets while his partner checks a group of kids who were drinking in the street. Caracas, August 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
Inmates in their cells in the Rodeo II jail, which is under the full control of the government. Caracas, August 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
Inmates​ exercise during their yard time in Rodeo II jail, which was restructured after a violent riot in 2011 that killed 19 people. Guatire, outside Caracas, March 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
An inmate poses for a photo showing his tattoos dedicated to a girl named Katerin. Guatire, outside Caracas, April 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
Luis Alfredo Torres, a motorbike taxi rider, was executed on Caracas' main highway during an attempted robbery of his bike. The supply shortage of spare parts makes riders the targets of gangs. Caracas, May 2013.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
A relative of the Balza brothers carries an arrangement of flowers during their burial in the east cemetery of Caracas. The homicide in which the Balza brothers were killed—inside a hospital where had gone after one of them had been shot during a gang fight—adds to the statistics of 24,000 murders per year. July 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
The wife of one of the Balza brothers shouts insults during his funeral, in the east cemetery of Caracas, against a rival gang who killed her husband. The homicide in which the Balza brothers were killed—inside a hospital where had gone after one of them had been shot during a gang fight—adds to the statistics of 24,000 murders per year. July 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
Bolivarian National Police advance toward opposition demonstrators in Caracas. The 2014 protest started after the death of a student by government security forces. February 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
Student demonstrator Bassil Da Costa, who was shot in the head, is carried to a police vehicle after clashes broke out between opposition protesters and security forces. Caracas, February 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
A demonstrator puts a rosary on over his head before clashing with the Bolivarian National Guard during anti-government protests in Caracas. March 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
Demonstrators walk through a cloud of tear gas fired by the Bolivarian National Guard [?] during clashes between antigovernment protestors and government security forces. Caracas, March 2014.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage
Venezuela Caracas Hugo Chavez legacy
A man covers his face while lying on a Venezuelan flag during a demonstration to demand the release of Metropolitan Mayor Antonio Ledezma. The mayor was arrested under the charges of conspiracy against Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. Caracas, February 2015.Alejandro Cegarra—Getty Images Reportage

Critics claim Maduro ginned up the border crisis to distract attention from his failed socialist economic policies. Price controls, for example, make food more affordable for poor Venezuelans. But they also make it unprofitable for many farmers and factory owners to produce food and some have gone out of business. Plummeting prices for oil, Venezuela’s main export, mean the Maduro government has less cash to import food.

Carlos Socha, the mayor of Villa del Rosario, points out that smuggling has always been a fact of life along the frontier. However, with sugar, flour and pasta costing just pennies a kilogram in Venezuela, the potential profits for contrabandistas are at an all-time high. Because smugglers often use clandestine routes, closing official border crossings will not stop this flow. Neither will expelling Colombian migrants – many of whom are women and children – since the lion’s share of the smuggling is widely believed to be carried out by criminal gangs and corrupt law enforcement officials on both sides of the border.

“It’s not right that Maduro calls all Colombians terrorists, criminals and paramilitaries,” Socha says. “The problem is unproductive socialism in Venezuela. They have to reactivate their economy.”

That seems unlikely to happen before Venezuela’s legislative elections scheduled for Dec. 6, an event that may help explain Maduro’s actions.

His ruling Socialist Party currently controls the National Assembly and all other branches of government. But amid the economic meltdown polls indicate that the opposition could win a majority of the assembly seats which would weaken the President’s grip on power. In desperation, Maduro is scapegoating Colombia, says Caracas political analyst Luis Vicente León. He calls this “an outlandish electoral strategy” — but one that may work.

Yet Venezuelans are also being hurt in the standoff. Some found themselves trapped in Colombia when the frontier was sealed. Yaneth Galvis, a high school teacher from Caracas, learned about the closure while at a doctor’s appointment in Colombia. She hasn’t seen her husband in three weeks.

On a recent afternoon, Galvis and scores of other stranded Venezuelans marched across the bridge at Villa del Rosario to plead with Venezuelan guards to let them through. Finally, they relented and the weary travelers dragged roller suitcases and duffle bags past a barbed wire fence to Venezuela.

So far, there’s been no progress in negotiating a broader opening. Caracas and Bogotá have withdrawn their ambassadors while Maduro and Colombian Juan Manuel Santos have been exchanging threats and insults. In a speech Monday night, a defiant Maduro announced he was closing another key border crossing in northwestern Zulia state. He also accused Santos of plotting against him.

“Do you think you can destroy me, President Santos?” Maduro said. “Do you think you can destroy Venezuela and the (socialist) revolution? There is still time to correct your errors.”

Photographers Aim to Put a Face on Europe's Migrant Crisis

Ras Ajdir, Tunisia. 03/2011 - Border between Lybia and Tunisia. Refugee from Lybia in the camp. Community from bangadesh protesting for the conditions.
Refugees from Libya rest in Ras Ajdir, a coastal town on the border between Libya and Tunisia in March, 2011. Davide Monteleone—VII
Refugees run to reach their transport to continue their journey in Libya, near the border with Egypt, May 18, 2014.
Refugees run to reach their transport to continue their journey in Libya, near the border with Egypt, May 18, 2014.Giulio Piscitelli—Contrasto/Redux
Zarzis, Tunisia - 03/2011. Migrants getting ready to board the boat to reach Italy from the coast of Tunisia.
Migrants get ready to board the boat to reach Italy from the coast of Zarzis, Tunisia, March 13, 2011. Davide Monteleone—VII
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A row of corpses line Al-Baida Beach in Bir Ali, Yemen, May 2, 2007. A total of 34 bodies were found. Just one week after an almost identical tragedy saw 30 dead on a nearby beach, Somali smugglers continued to drop their human cargo out at sea rather than coming close to shore and risking detection. Alixandra Fazzina—NOOR
Kingsley, carnet de route d'un immigrant clandestin.
A group of men look out to the city of Melilla, Spain from a garbage dump in Morocco in Nov. 2004. It is a short distance from North Africa to mainland Spain. Olivier Jobard—MYOP
Kingsley, carnet de route d'un immigrant clandestin.
A smuggler's boat bringing illegal immigrants from North Africa to the Canary Islands capsized near the coast in Nov. 2004. Few could swim and two men drowned. Olivier Jobard—MYOP
Kingsley, carnet de route d'un immigrant clandestin.
After a shipwreck off the coast of Morocco in Nov. 2004, only four of 34 men still had their shoes. The others lost everything, including their clothes, and had to make sandals out of makeshift items such as plastic bottles. Olivier Joabrd—MYOP
Italian navy rescues asylum seekers traveling by boat off the coast of Africa on the Mediterranean, June 7, 2014.
Italian navy rescues asylum seekers traveling by boat off the coast of Africa on the Mediterranean, June 7, 2014.Massimo Sestini—Polaris
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Two Afghan boys throw stones into the sea, while waiting for the evening to arrive, when they can sneak into the port and board a ship bound for Italy illegally in Patras, Italy, March 8, 2012. Patras is one of the main escape points from Greece, due to the numerous cargo ships that dock in the port and are bound for Italy. Alessandro Penso—Magnum Foundation
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Mohamed from Morocco and his friends hide behind the rocks at the port, waiting for the right moment to illegally board a ship to Italy from Corinth, Greece, Feb. 21, 2012. In Greece, more than 99.5 percent of requests for political asylum are rejected, so these young people are forced to hide from the authorities.Alessandro Penso—Magnum Foundation
Sub-Saharan migrants scale a metallic fence that divides Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla on May 28, 2014.
Sub-Saharan migrants scale a metallic fence that divides Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla, May 28, 2014. Santi Palacios—AP
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Roughly 250 refugees from Egypt and Syria, among other countries, are checked by Doctors Without Borders as they disembark from an Italian ship, after being intercepted and rescued at sea en route to Italy from Egypt to the port in Pozzallo, Sicily, Italy, in Sept. 2014.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage
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A family of Syrian refugees holds its identification. Nearly 300 Syrians landed in the port of Catania, Dec. 6, 2014.Alessio Mamo—Redux
Afghan refugees, Kabir and Zaher, sit by a fire in Subotica, Serbia on Nov. 10, 2012. Zaher, who lost his left leg below the knees, made it to Serbia on crutches. Zaher says he is 16 and Kabir 15. The two were traveling together from Greece. The men they lived outdoors in Subotica, waiting for smugglers to give the green light to continue their journey.
Afghan refugees, Kabir and Zaher, sit by a fire in Subotica, Serbia, Nov. 10, 2012. Zaher, who lost his left leg below the knees, made it to Serbia on crutches. Zaher says he is 16 and Kabir 15. The two were traveling together from Greece. The men lived outdoors in Subotica, waiting for smugglers to give the green light to continue their journey. Daniel Etter—Redux
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Refugees from Syria inside the Harmanli camp in Bulgaria, Nov. 19, 2013. The biggest of Bulgaria’s “emergency centers” for refugees is in the town of Harmanli, about 18 miles (30 km) away from the Turkish border, where around 1,000 asylum-seekers are being detained on a former military base.Alessandro Penso—Magnum Foundation
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A young girl from Syria cooks inside the Harmanli camp in Bulgaria, Nov. 19, 2013. People living in tents have no access to sanitation facilities. Although there are four toilets in a building at the entrance of the center, they are frequently blocked and hardly adequate for hundreds of people. The tents are not heated and the residents sleep either on thin mattresses or on old foldable beds.Alessandro Penso—Magnum Foundation
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Nezarisa Sakhi, a 31-year-old Iraqi, in Banya refugee center in Bulgaria on May 16, 2014. Sakhi was attacked on the evening of Sept. 16, 2013 by nine Bulgarians, one of whom Nezarisa says had a knife. He was beaten and pushed off a bridge, breaking his leg. Alessandro Penso—Magnum Foundation
Nawras Soukhta, a 15-year-old from Damascus, sits in the train traveling from Stockholm to Malmö, Sweden, a few hours after his plane lands in Sweden. After 11 days sailing to Italy from Turkey, and another week traveling through Italy, the train ride to Malmö is the final leg of a three-week journey he has made in the hopes of applying for asylum in Sweden.
Nawras Soukhta, a 15-year-old from Damascus, sits in the train traveling from Stockholm to Malmö, Sweden, a few hours after his plane lands in Sweden on Oct. 22, 2014. After 11 days sailing to Italy from Turkey, and another week traveling through Italy, the train ride to Malmö is the final leg of a three-week journey he has made in the hopes of applying for asylum in Sweden. Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin
Mansour, an immigrant from Mali waits a friend in downtown Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria on Dec. 7, 2014. He is in a shelter in south-western part of the city.
Mansour, an immigrant from Mali waits a friend in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec. 7, 2014. He is in a shelter in south-western part of the city. Giulio Piscitelli—Contrasto/Redux
A pair of trousers lie on the seabed near the shipwreck of the 66-foot-long fishing boat that sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa lies at a depth of 164 ft. on the seabed, on Sept. 22, 2014. The tragedy that happened a year ago on Oct. 3, 2013 killed 366 migrants from North Africa.
A pair of trousers lie on the seabed near the shipwreck of the 66-foot-long fishing boat that sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa lies at a depth of 164 ft. on the seabed, Sept. 22, 2014. The tragedy that happened a year ago on Oct. 3, 2013 killed 366 migrants from North Africa. Francesco Zizola—NOOR

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