COLOMBIA: Rampant crime in Venezuela forces many to move to neighbouring Colombia which is on the recovery from a decades-long fight against rebel groups and drug traffickers

Record ID: 348254

  • Title: COLOMBIA: Rampant crime in Venezuela forces many to move to neighbouring Colombia which is on the recovery from a decades-long fight against rebel groups and drug traffickers
  • Date: 23rd July 2011
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF GATO NEGRO RESTAURANT, OWNED BY A VENEZUELAN IMMIGRANT PEOPLE WALKING PAST RESTAURANT DINERS INSIDE RESTAURANT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN RESTAURANT OWNER, JOSE ANTONIO FRAGA, SAYING: "Obviously one makes an evaluation - there were no pros and cons - it was just a comparison. And we didn't
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia, Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA5PS3DGZOK0FD0U11EHZHLP85R
  • Story Text: Rampant crime in Venezuela forces many to move to neighbouring Colombia which is on the recovery from a decades-long fight against rebel groups and drug traffickers.
    The Gato Negro - or 'Black Cat' - a restaurant in Bogota looks like just any other Colombian restaurant.
    But this restaurant is Venezuelan-owned.
    Restaurant manager Jose Antonio Fraga moved to Bogota with the help of his Colombian mother-in-law last year in search of a new life.
    Venezuela has been plagued by a housing shortage, power outages, the worst inflation on the continent and social polarization under the presidency of Hugo Chavez.
    Fraga says it was rampant crime in the South American country, however, which forced him to pack up his bags.
    "Obviously one makes an evaluation - there were no pros and cons - it was just a comparison. And we didn't even take politics into account because it doesn't have anything to do with it. The opportunities there are in Colombia, the legal security especially as a foreigner is reasonably good compared to other countries in the region where I have done business before," Venezuelan restaurant owner, Jose Antonio Fraga, said.
    Fraga's restaurant has become something a meeting place for the Venezuelan community. There are no official figures on the total number of Venezuelans residing in Colombia illegally, but between 2005 and 2009, at least 57,000 entered Colombia and did not return home.
    Many mention rising crime in Venezuela as the reason why they left.
    "What is really worry about your country is whether there is insecurity or not. Because nobody wants to leave. One gets up in the morning for work and you can deal with political or economic problems but when they put a pistol to your head, you don't have any other option that to leave," Venezuelan television student, Luisa Merino, said.
    While crime in Caracas is now on statistical par with some conflict zones as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Colombia is enjoying a boom in oil and mining investment as violence from its long war against rebel groups eases.
    Earlier this year Colombia also regained its coveted investment grade credit from Standard & Poor's rating agency, a decision which will help attract a new class of investors and spur even further economic growth.
    The director of the Venezuelans in Bogota Association, Carlos Martinez, says even more Venezuelans could be encouraged to come to Colombia if Chavez is re-elected in the presidential vote next year.
    "Colombia is boom and in a way Bogota has become a main center and that is why the Venezuelans have begun arriving and will continue to come. The big exodus could happen around election time - depending on whether Hugo Chavez is reelected - and a massive amount of people could come," Martinez said.
    The number of Venezuelans passing through Colombia's borders doubled between 2008 and 2009 to 9,700 people compared to the figure from the three previous years put together, according to the Colombian Department of Security.
    Such numbers mean more Venezuelans are migrating to Colombia than the reverse these days.
    "Emigration always used to go from Colombia to Venezuela because Venezuela offered better salaries and it was safer. But now migration is the reverse and we are seeing professionals and business people who are migrating here, something that is very valuable for Colombia," Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber of Economic Studies Director Ana Maria Camacho, said.
    New businesses like the Locatel Pharmacy are an example of the impact this new trend is making.
    "Colombia is a country that is changing positively. There is an air of progress, an air of growth, strengthening democracy and that motivates Venezuelans a lot and that take it as a place ideal for investment," Locatel Pharmacy manager, Alvaro Carranque said.
    And as insecurity and high levels of inflation continue to plague Colombia's neighbour, more and more Venezuelans are likely to pack their bags and seek a more secure future in Colombia.
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