Less than 24 hours after the border traffic rules for Venezuelan immigrants harden, Peru expects the arrival of about 20,000 people on Friday. Long walks and insecurity are some of the problems faced by those fleeing Venezuela.
In the last week the number of Venezuelan citizens traveling by bus to the Ecuadorian border with Peru has increased. / EFE
The Venezuelan migrants who left their country to Peru or Ecuador are in a limbo. This week, both governments announced that they would demand a passport for entry and stay in their countries. Although in Ecuador the measure is still being discussed, in Peru the thing is serious. As of August 25, every Venezuelan citizen who crosses the border into Peru will have to present his passport, a document that few have and that has caused a migratory dam on the border between both countries. Less than 24 hours from the hardening of the rules of border traffic, Efe assures that the Peruvian authorities expect this Friday the arrival of more than 20,000 Venezuelans.
The deep crisis that Venezuela is going through has pushed thousands of its citizens to emigrate to other destinations that guarantee, at least, possibilities to satisfy their basic needs. Climbing mountains, going cold, in precarious conditions, without water, food or enough clothes, appear the stories of the walkers, entire families who start walking route from the Colombian-Venezuelan border to various destinations in South America.
"It's almost a road to death," says Leonor Peña, a Venezuelan volunteer who helps walkers in Pamplona, Norte de Santander. Peña sees them daily face the harsh conditions, especially in the páramos, of low temperatures and humidity. In flight they leave everything they know back, without knowing what they will face. Not all survive, since according to the National Association of Journalists, five travelers have died in Tunja and three in Pamplona.
The streets of Colombia are witnesses, since the walkers sleep in them. A report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicates that 85% of walkers do not have money, only 2% can afford lodging, less than half have water and only 15% Take enough food in your luggage.
In addition, the lack of documentation makes them invisible. The 80% carries only Venezuelan identification card or Border Mobility Card (TMF), so this population is in an irregular condition by traveling non-border municipalities. This exposes them even more to theft, labor exploitation and sexual abuse, since denouncing would mean repatriation. It can not be determined whether the travelers arrived at their destination or were victims of trafficking or recruitment.
Most of them do not have the support of vehicular transportation, especially in the Cúcuta-Pamplona section, because of the fear of the drivers to be stopped by the Police.
For them the trip is long and did not start in Colombia, since the majority comes from non-border states of Venezuela. They enter through alternative routes and can be more than 20 days walking. According to OCHA, they work 11 hours a day and five hours a night for a total of 16 hours, although some say they walk more. The main destinations are Ecuador and Peru.
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In groups of five people of average size, they face a family separation scenario that affects them sentimentally and psychologically. Lactating mothers have left their babies in Venezuela or Cúcuta in the care of relatives or friends, but they are exposed to infections because they do not have attention.
The main reasons to flee are economic suffocation, lack of food, lack of employment and insecurity. But escape is not always better.
All the walkers suffer serious needs in terms of food, lodging, health, hygiene and transport. Daily they face the terrible dilemma of returning to their points of origin or moving on to their destiny, walking and living on charity.
In Cúcuta, a humanitarian aid group called Caminantes Tricolor emerged, led by Alans Peralta and Jackeline Galindo. They have assisted more than 200 people with injuries, fainting and foot injuries.
"In Bucaramanga you see them going to Chile," says Peralta, who started the movement because of his desire to help "the poorest of the poor", people who do not have the money to pay for the passage and who are in such a degree of desperation that his only way out is to flee on foot.
On the road they meet with the support and rejection of Colombians. They show a complex emotional deterioration due to uprooting, family separation and The discrimination. The walkers express anguish for their relatives, because they do not have the means to communicate with them.
In Pamplona, Leonor Peña has been in charge of sending reports to the separated families. However, there is not always news of the whereabouts of the walkers, who are torn between the anguish for health and the possibilities of completing the trip.
Seeing the Red Cross trucks attending to the walkers evokes images of war, but for Venezuelans that cross means help, an aid that is destined for them. "Pamplona has become a place of understanding for the truce," says Peña, moved by the generosity of citizens.
In these times of seeking refuge, it became indispensable to add wills. Tricolor walkers receive donations in Cúcuta, at Avenida 0 # 11-129, UME Building, 202 office, Caobos Neighborhood.
For the Venezuelan journalist Tulio Hernandez, it is urgent to implement emergency actions and long-term and high-flying policies, articulation between the actions of local governments, the national government, international organizations, NGOs, citizen volunteers and churches, because everything indicates that the phenomenon is growing and will be long-lasting, even if Maduro left power very soon, because Venezuela's economic injury is structural.
"It is a problem that Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador have to deal with in a concerted manner, around an umbrella strategy coordinated by specialized international organizations, such as UNHCR. Otherwise, without diagnosis and planning, even if there are resources, there will be duplication of actions and large omissions, "warns the writer.
It is necessary to appeal to understanding and solidarity. Walkers are displaced in the strict sense of the term. Millions of Colombians know well the issue of emigration and that of the displaced, because they have lived it in their own flesh. Tulio explains that an antixenophobic education is necessary and to recognize that the aid to the walkers, besides an act of solidarity and Christian piety, is a matter of human rights. The legislations and international agreements signed by Colombia oblige to pay attention and help to solve the basic needs of migrants, displaced persons and refugees.
Regardless of the blockade of the governments of Peru and Ecuador to demand passport to Venezuelans, the walkers will continue their journey with or without help, with or without documents. The next time you see a walker pass remember that person is not there because he wanted, many are professionals who escape a terrible situation, leaving behind his family. Help him, support him, give him water, a smile, a fraternal greeting. If you have nothing to give him, do not insult him, do not look at him badly; someone who has walked for days will surely not have the best appearance. The escape is the most difficult exit. The next time you see a walker, better say: "Walker, yes there is a way".