Colombian Venezuelan border heats up

791 undocumented Colombians were deported over the weekend, according to the Governor of the State of Táchira (Venezuela). However, Colombian immigration authorities reported that of 751 of its citizens who have been expelled from Venezuela, 514 are in border shelters and others have moved into their homes in Colombia.

Colombian authorities created a unified command center in the Colombian border city of Cucuta to cater to the deportees.

Thousands of people and vehicles cross over the international Simón Bolívar bridge every day. The low prices of subsidized gasoline and some regulated products have led to the proliferation of smugglers along the mutual border of 2,200 kilometers. The anti-smuggling campaign of Venezuelan Government started a year ago when it decreed the closure of the border in the evening and began to deport dozens of Colombians.

The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, declared the closure of the border with Colombia on Friday. According to his statements, Colombian paramilitary groups travel regularly to Venezuela, generating chaos and shortages in order to destabilize the “revolution.”

The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said that the measure is unjustified and affects inhabitants on both sides without resolving the problem of smuggling. Meanwhile, because of the living situation on the Colombian side, the Mayor of Cúcuta, Donamaris Ramírez, said on Monday there was public calamity in his city.

The Venezuelan opposition interprets the measures of the Government as a distraction from the economic crisis, testing the waters to suspend elections in opposition-majority areas and solve problems “created by themselves.”

It is expected that the Foreign Ministers of Colombia, María Ángela Holguín, and of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, convene August 26 to discuss the situation on the border.