Nicolás Maduro opens the border with Colombia so that Venezuelans receive medical attention

Nicolás Maduro’s regime rehabilitated the pedestrian crossing through the state of Táchira after ordering, in February, the closure of the border with Colombia to prevent the entry of US aid due to the severe shortage of food and medicine in his country. On Friday by the dictator it began to take effect this Saturday and will allow the entry and exit of Venezuelans between six in the morning and nine at night, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez explained in a tweet. the border bridges that connect Táchira and the Colombian department of Norte de Santander, according to AFP journalists. The head of Migration Colombia, Christian Krüger, reported a “slight increase” with respect to the usual flow at the border, especially in the Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander bridges, in the city of Cúcuta. By noon some 18,000 people had entered Colombia from Venezuela and more than 8,000 left Colombia, the official said in a statement to the media. Before the border closure, an average of 30,000 people passed through the Simón Bolívar every day, according to migration calculations.While he welcomed the reopening of the border crossings, Krüger reproached the Maduro government for keeping traffic through international bridges using containers blocked. full of “sand and stone.” Chavismo, which cut off relations with Colombia, put up obstacles in rejection of the failed entry of US aid, which it always denounced as a pretext for a military invasion. They also complained about the long lines and waiting to cross into Colombian territory.Belky Rangel, 34, arrived exhausted and on the verge of crying at the Simón Bolívar bridge. It took him three hours to go to Cúcuta from San Antonio, Táchira, with his two sick eight and five-year-old daughters. The bus ride would have taken him an hour and a half. “It has been terrible, I have my two daughters with dengue fever, and I had to come to seek health in Colombia,” he said. According to this Venezuelan mother, the passage to Colombia is restricted “and there are many people in need of health and food.” . Forced by the closure of the border, Venezuelans venture down dangerous trails or illegal roads to get food and medicine or take their children to school in Colombia. Despite Maduro’s most recent order, many people preferred to cross through the known area such as “the trails” and pay a “toll” to the illegal armed groups that control them, given the difficulties of doing so by walking over the bridges. “They have not removed the containers and the pass is collapsed. There are many people on the “Venezuelan side,” said Carlos Julio Pérez, 55, who took all morning to get to Cúcuta and receive medical attention. Venezuela is facing the largest exodus in its modern history, as a result of the collapse of its economy and a fierce power struggle between Maduro and the opposition led by Juan Guaidó, recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries. Some 3.3 million people have fled Venezuela since January 2016, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). ). Only Colombia has received around 1.3 million Venezuelans. The government of Iván Duque, which calls the Maduro regime a dictatorship, supports the United States’ efforts to force Chavismo out of power.