North of Santander – Thousands of people crossed from Venezuela to Colombia to buy food, medicines, and other essential goods on Sunday. The economic crisis and food shortage are forcing Venezuelans to cross the border with Colombia to get the necessary cooking supplies and hygiene products.  The frontier opened for 12 hours on Monday, after remaining closed since last August.

More than 35,000 Venezuelans crossed over the Simón Bolívar international bridge from San Antonio del Táchira to Cúcuta, according to Colombian officers. President Nicolás Maduro ordered the opening of the border from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to an announcement made by Táchira state Governor José Gregorio Vielma Mora. People started to gather at the frontier gates before dawn.

For people living in Venezuela, grocery shopping consists of highly regulated foods like flour, rice, beans and many other goods. Hygiene products are scarce as well, causing people to cross to Colombia and buy freely. Image Credit: Equilibrio Informativo
For people living in Venezuela, grocery shopping consists of highly regulated foods like flour, rice, beans and many other goods. Hygiene products are scarce as well, causing people to cross to Colombia and buy freely. Image Credit: Equilibrio Informativo

“By midday, almost 10,0000 were reported back into Venezuela, but Colombian authorities decided to leave the border open until eight p.m. to give a chance to Venezuelans to buy all the goods they needed and departing in an organized way,” officer Víctor Bautista told El Nacional news media.

Christian Kruger, director of Colombian Migration, said Colombia supports and understands their Venezuelan neighbors, so the country approved the order for them to cross to buy products like rice, beans, toilet paper and soap. Kruger added he expects there will be more “humanitarian corridors” in the next days, according to El Tiempo newspaper.

San Antonio border was not the only one opened. At 11 a.m., Arauca province governor Ricardo Alvarado Bestene, along with Colombian Chancellery and Colombian police opened the border span of the Venezuelan state of Apure to allow people the entry to Colombia through the José Antonio Páez international bridge to buy basic goods.

About 500 Venezuelan women crossed the frontier last week

President Maduro ordered the 12-hour opening after a group of more than 500 women in the city of Ureña organize a rally to push and break through the border controls and illegally enter Colombia to buy food for their families on July 5. Maduro branded the event as a “media show” organized by the opposition.

Since 2014, the mono producer country fell into an economic crisis exacerbated with the crash of oil prices. Venezuelans have been struggling with food and medicine shortages, a humanitarian crisis, and a 700 percent inflation and a constant devaluation of the currency that makes food acquisition even more challenging.

Venezuelans express their happiness as they walk in by the thousands into Colombia. Image Credit: Aljazeera
About 35,000 Venezuelans crowded the Simon Bolivar international bridge as they walked into Colombia. Image Credit: Aljazeera

In 2010, with 10,000 Bs.F. people could buy 3 million Colombian pesos, Juan Fernando González, president of Asocambios, the currency exchange association in Cúcuta told BBC. Now, 10,000 Bs.F. are worth 25,000 Colombian pesos.

Venezuelan faced the economic limitations in Cúcuta, stating that buying in the neighbor country was still cheaper than buying Venezuelan resellers. On August 19, 2015, President Maduro shut the border crossings between the state of Táchira and Norte de Santander province. He took the measure saying that smuggling was generating the food and basic goods shortages.

Later, he ordered to close the 1,378-mile (2,219 km) border altogether. More than 100,000 people used to circulate daily through the crossings.

Source: Associated Press