| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuelans floodIing into Colombia |
| 2016-07-24 |
| Venezuela's economic crisis has sent a huge but largely ignored wave of people into Colombia, and many more could be on the way, Martin Gottwald, the United Nations Refugee Agency's representative in Colombia, said. No exact figures are available, but the number of Venezuelans fleeing to Colombia is already "quite large," and Colombia should prepare itself for more, Gottwald told AFP in an interview. "The avalanche is probably going to increase, with or without the reopening of the border." Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro closed the countries' border in August 2015 after an attack on an army patrol. He blamed right-wing paramilitaries from Colombia. Venezuelans are sneaking across the border even when it is closed, driven abroad by the economic crisis, violent crime and a health care system teetering on the brink of collapse. The leftist leader briefly reopened it last weekend to allow Venezuelans to stock up on food, medicine and other basic supplies amid severe shortages in Venezuela. Gottwald said a sizeable number of Venezuelans who entered Colombia probably never returned. He urged the Colombian government to start putting contingency plans in place for the "worst-case scenario." |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #2 Any of them going to Brazil? How about Guyana? UN setting up refugee camps? /s |
| Posted by: AlanC 2016-07-24 08:56 |
| #1 2016. The year of world migrations. |
| Posted by: Percy McCoy7690 2016-07-24 00:21 |