To protect displaced Colombians from Catatumbo, the Venezuelan government has set up a humanitarian corridor with four points working along the more than 2,000 kilometers of border between Venezuela and Colombia.
Colombia’s Catatumbo region has suffered a recent spike in bloodshed; armed conflicts in the nation’s ongoing internal conflict have resulted the killings of at least 80 Colombians in the Catatumbo region in the last week alone.
TeleSUR correspondent Madelein García spoke with a dozen displaced people who thanked Venezuela for its solidarity and recounted how they left their homes behind and faced risks on the way to Venezuela in order to survive.
Colombians and Venezuelans already feel a sense of relative calm settling in on the border of the Venezuelan state of Zulia with the Colombian province of Norte de Santander and affirm that their goal is to live in peace: “Conflict and violence lead nowhere… Colombians are not accustomed to this war,” one survivor told the TeleSUR correspondent.
The displaced have only been able to bring a few things, and many say they left their belongings in Colombia, including money. Alejo Sampayo said: “We came without a penny in our pockets” and thanked Venezuela for granting them asylum.
María Márquez, a Venezuelan migrant returning from Colombia, was shaken by the dangers they faced before reaching the peace zone: “I am traumatized; there were so many scary things that we experienced along the way, but thank God we are here.”
The Colombians recounted the horrors they have seen in the war, including the death of friends who could not be provided a decent burial. They regret that, for the time being, they will not be able to return, as the fighting continues.
Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Humanitarian Task Force continued its work to transfer the new arrivals to other border states and bring them closer to their friends or loved ones, and there are more than 50 doctors deployed along four points of the humanitarian corridor. Inflatable toys have been given to children to try to raise their spirits.
In addition, as part of the humanitarian corridor, the Semprúm municipality of Zulia state received two humanitarian aid trucks that transported 1,000 toys, 500 hygiene kits, 400 mats, 50 mattresses, 50 bunk beds, drinking water, 20 fans, and 56 sheets, as well as 56 pillows. These supplies will help ensure that the displaced are provided for.
It is worth noting that Venezuela has welcomed six million Colombians who have fled armed conflicts for more than 60 years, and now also welcomes Venezuelan migrants who return to their homeland.
On January 16, violent clashes broke out between dissidents of the 33rd Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in some municipalities in the Catatumbo region, in Norte de Santander, Colombia. To date, eight peace signatories have been killed and the Colombian government has declared a state of internal unrest, which allows it to activate the full operational capacity of the government.
Photo credit: La Iguana TV
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/BR/SL
