VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA/BORDER Colombians struggling on both sides of border amid Venezuela deportations

Record ID: 142295

  • Title: VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA/BORDER Colombians struggling on both sides of border amid Venezuela deportations
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: TACHIRA, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PERSON DEMOLISHING HIS HOUSE IN SAN ANTONIO DEL TACHIRA VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT DEMOLISHED HOMES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN WOMAN WHO WAS EVICTED FROM HOME, SAYING: "Today, 72 hours later [after eviction notice], they started to demolish the houses, they left us in the street." VARIOUS OF SOME PEOPLE WATCHING TELEVISION AND GATHERING BELONGINGS TO LEAVE HOME VARIOUS OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE ABANDONED HOME PERSON SWEEPING INSIDE ABANDONED HOME VARIOUS OF MARIA CHACON, A COLOMBIAN WOMAN WHO WAS EVICTED FROM HER HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN WOMAN EVICTED FROM HOME, MARIA CHACON, SAYING: "They don't care that there are two-month or one and a half year-old babies, newborns - no, this is not just." VARIOUS OF PERSON SITTING OUTSIDE HOUSE AND COMBING HAIR DEMOLISHED HOUSE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING BELONGINGS AND CROSSING TACHIRA RIVER TOWARD CUCUTA, COLOMBIA VARIOUS OF COLOMBIAN POLICE HELPING PEOPLE WITH THEIR BELONGINGS VARIOUS OF COLOMBIANS BRINGING BELONGINGS ACROSS THE RIVER VARIOUS OF COLOMBIAN POLICE ON RIVERBANK HELPING CARRY BELONGINGS VARIOUS OF COLOMBIAN WOMAN STANDING ON RIVERBANK WITH HER BELONGINGS VARIOUS OF A WOMAN SAYING GOOD-BYE TO HER DAUGHTER BEFORE CROSSING RIVER WITH ASSISTANCE FROM COLOMBIAN POLICE VARIOUS OF COLOMBIAN POLICE CARRYING BELONGINGS OF EVICTEES CUCUTA, COLOMBIA (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) TENTS WHERE RECENTLY DEPORTED COLOMBIAN FAMILIES ARE LIVING VARIOUS OF DEPORTED FAMILIES WITH TENTS AND BELONGINGS WOMAN SLEEPING IN PROVISIONAL BED DOG ON BED MAKESHIFT TENT HOMES VARIOUS OF WOMAN AND HER CHILDREN IN TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN DEPORTED FROM VENEZUELA, CAMILA ROJAS, SAYING: "The Venezuelan National Guard arrived and kicked us out of our houses, just because we were Colombian, they kicked us out like dogs, they didn't let us take our things, what we had, and unfortunately there are children, many sick people too, we had to cross the river at two in the morning with our people, with our friends, sad, because look, we are sleeping in inhumane conditions." COLOMBIAN DEPORTEES WITH BELONGINGS COLOMBIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING IN TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN DEPORTEE, JAIRO CABALLERO, SAYING: "We lost everything there, the houses, jobs we had for 10, 15, 20 years, we lost everything - everything stayed over there. Our belongings are there, everything. The worst is that we can't continue in this situation, we've already been here for eight days, living and sleeping here in this dust cloud, out in the open, so they need to help and give us a solution." VARIOUS OF CARS WAITING AT GAS STATION VARIOUS OF MAN PUTTING GAS IN HIS CAR GENERAL VIEW OF CARS IN LINE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN JULIO CACUA, SAYING: "It's because they brought 50 percent of the gasoline consumed here in Cucuta from over there [Venezuela], that's why there's this situation and now they aren't bringing anything." VARIOUS OF CARS IN LINE AT GAS STATION
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAKWGWDYPGTOT0K8K2RUEVM0SU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In the Venezuelan border city of San Antonio del Tachira Colombian families on Thursday (August 27) stared at their recently demolished homes in disbelief.
    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shut two border crossings last week after a shootout between smugglers and troops wounded three soldiers. He later extended the closing indefinitely and stepped up deportations of Colombians in what he said was an effort to crack down on paramilitary gangs.
    This week members from Venezuela's National Guard inspected houses in low-income border neighbourhoods like this one, pasting signs bearing the letter 'D' for 'demolition' on homes that were to be destroyed.
    While Venezuela says it is cracking down on paramilitary and smuggling gangs active along the border, many families who have been forced to flee said they had nothing to do with crime.
    This Colombian woman living in Venezuela said she was given 72 hours to evict her house before it was demolished.
    "Today, 72 hours later [after eviction notice], they started to demolish the houses, they left us in the street," she said.
    People gathered what they could from their homes while neighbouring houses were already abandoned or demolished.
    Colombian Maria Chacon said the evacuation orders were unjust.
    "They don't care that there are two-month or one and a half year-old babies, newborns - no, this is not just," she said.
    For many years, Venezuela stood as the rich neighbor to a poorer Colombia and a haven for Colombians fleeing a decades-long guerilla conflict. More than 5 million Colombians live here.
    Opponents say Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro has concocted a border dispute to distract people from a steep economic downturn in the run-up to parliamentary elections.
    Since the border crossings were closed, more than 1,000 Colombians have been deported from Venezuela, including some minors who were separated from their parents, a Colombian immigration official told Reuters.
    Colombian police assisted returning Colombians with their belongings as they crossed the Tachira river that divides the two countries.
    In the Colombia border town of Cucuta the effect of the evictions and deportations can be seen with families living in makeshift tent homes after returning to their native Colombia with nowhere to go.
    Colombian deportee Camila Rojas said that she was unable to salvage her belongings before having to cross the river in the middle of the night.
    "The Venezuelan National Guard arrived and kicked us out of our houses, just because we were Colombian, they kicked us out like dogs, they didn't let us take our things, what we had, and unfortunately there are children, many sick people too, we had to cross the river at two in the morning with our people, with our sad friends, because look, we are sleeping in inhumane conditions," she said.
    Jairo Caballero said that he, like many others, had left behind houses and jobs in Venezuela.
    "We lost everything there, the houses, jobs we had for 10, 15, 20 years, we lost everything - everything stayed over there. Our belongings are there, everything. The worst is that we can't continue in this situation, we've already been here for eight days, living and sleeping here in this dust cloud, out in the open, so they need to help and give us a solution," he said.
    With Venezuela suffering soaring prices, shortages of basics and unchecked crime, critics say the border crisis is a smokescreen.
    Smugglers had, though, been buying up price-controlled goods -- especially gasoline costing just a few U.S. cents a tank -- to resell across the border here in Colombia, making huge profits but exacerbating shortages.
    By closing the border, the Venezuelan government said that on Monday (August 24) gas stations in Tachira state sold a million less liters (265,000 gallons) of fuel.
    "It's because they brought 50 percent of the gasoline consumed here in Cucuta from over there [Venezuela], that's why there's this situation and now they aren't bringing anything," said Cucuta resident Julio Cacua as cars lined up at a local gas station.
    The porous 2,219-kilometre (1,379-mile) frontier that separates the two countries is frequently traversed by smugglers moving price-fixed goods from Venezuela to Colombia for profit, as well as illegal armed groups.
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