{"id":46150,"date":"2018-05-21T09:29:17","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T14:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dejusticia.org\/?p=46150"},"modified":"2018-10-05T16:32:59","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T21:32:59","slug":"the-collective-despair-of-venezuelans-passing-through-cucuta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.dejusticia.org\/en\/the-collective-despair-of-venezuelans-passing-through-cucuta\/","title":{"rendered":"The collective despair of Venezuelans passing through C\u00facuta"},"content":{"rendered":"
Photo: Juan Arredondo<\/strong><\/h5>\n

J\u00fanior Reverol, 35, has been sleeping on the side of the highway leading from C\u00facuta to Cali for three days. The blankets and pads that he carries are not enough for his wife Joselyn; his three children of 10, 12, and 14; his sister-in-law Karina, who is eight and a half months pregnant; his four cousins; and a couple of friends. They have already spent two nights sleeping in gas stations alongside trucks, grease, and the intense odors of fuel that make one dizzy. They are currently in the Berl\u00edn Paramo in Santander, one of the highest points along the Andes mountains. The end of the day finds them asking for rides to Bucaramanga, without success. The intense cold leaves everyone with coughs, and the mist dampens their clothes, chilling them. \u201cWe\u2019re on the verge of hypothermia. One of us is fainting,\u201d says Jocelyn to her sister through a voice message on Whatsapp. None of them has ever been on a mountain so high\u2014much less slept outdoors surrounded by fog. <\/span><\/p>\n

They are fourteen in all: housewives, masons, mechanics, scavengers, and children coming from Caracas, fleeing hunger. In January, they crossed the border into Colombia through C\u00facuta. \u201cC\u00facuta is a mess, fuck, and there isn\u2019t work for anyone, no matter how much you look, and every day more and more families arrive. And now, with the elections, everything\u2019s getting worse,\u201d says Jhonatan, one of the fourteen.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Jhonatan, J\u00fanior and Joselyn, this weekend\u2019s presidential election in Venezuela simply means there will be more of them on the highways and in the terminals, the plazas, the informal markets, the 5,000 peso\/night residences, and the marginal neighborhoods around Colombia. As for the rest, the family does not feel like a part of a democratic system\u2014for them, their vote is not representative. It means nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

We remember:<\/span> Venezuela must respect the people’s right to free and fair elections<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The fourteen slept in shelters in C\u00facuta until they were told that they had to leave to give space to others. They spent a few days in the street before beginning to walk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u201cIf everyone leaves Venezuela, who is going to vote against Maduro?\u201d asks Olga, a resident of Norte de Santander who lives off the highway store she owns in the eastern sector, as she serves them bread and malt drinks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHoney, only a miracle can save Venezuela,\u201d says Karina. \u201cThat dictator has bought all the elections with food. Nothing is going to change. It doesn\u2019t matter if the people vote. It\u2019s already decided.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u201cSee, the government knows how to play with the needs of the Venezuelan people. It\u2019s disgusting. We\u2019re as low as you can get. Maduro has tied the votes to the hunger of the people. The need is enormous, and they have us marked by national IDs. That way they assure that you vote for him. The corruption is endless,\u201d says Luisa*, a member of the Venezuelan National Guard who decided to leave her country in spite of the benefits she received from the Venezuelan State. \u201cThere are many in the Guard who stay because they need to provide food for their children, everyone knows that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

You may be interested in: #VenezuelaBienvenida<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The spirits of the Venezuelans that cross the border are pessimistic. Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s photograph was repeated ten times on the list of candidates from the Venezuelan National Electoral Council. This, and a reelection that seems inevitable, was the \u201cpoint of no return\u201d for many. In 2013, the last presidential elections left behind the era of Hugo Ch\u00e1vez and welcomed in the leadership of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro with a Venezuela already experiencing food shortages. These shortages, deepend by the profound economic crisis and falling petroleum prices, now affect not only refrigerators, but every aspect of daily life, and force many people to be separated from their families and leave behind everything to migrate, principally across South America and Europe. The failure of massive protests last year, which resulted in 157 dead and the dissolution of opposition party leadership, was another blow to the hopes of those calling for change. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA pair of shoes for my children costs me 9 million bolivars. My monthly income is 1.5 million. Venezuela is trapped. The people can\u2019t put up with rising costs, the vote isn\u2019t going to change anything. That image of women selling hair on the border to pay for transportation is just one demonstration of how desperate we feel. The people aren\u2019t going to put up with four more years of Maduro. God help us,\u201d says Diana Casta\u00f1eda, who comes from the state of Carabobo, and sleeps in the Pamplona terminal in Norte de Santander, hoping to gather enough money for a bus to Bogot\u00e1, and then to Lima, where her brother is waiting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten journalists from Venezuela who arrived last week to C\u00facuta to participate in a human rights workshop confirmed that in Caracas it is more and more common to encounter water shut-offs, medicine shortages, people eating from trash bins, vastly unaffordable meat, the absence of cash, the metro abandoned, the city deserted after 6pm, and symbolic salaries that, although they number in the millions, are not enough for anything. Before returning to Venezuela to cover the elections, only one of the journalists said they would be voting next Sunday. Everyone said they would have lead the front page with the story of re-election.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We recommend:<\/span><\/h3>\n

#VenezuelaBienvenida: Colombian-Venezuelans return to Colombia, a product of the crisis<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n