大象传媒

In 2016, as the Venezuelan economy spiraled further into turmoil, Imalay Gonz谩lez made a tough decision. Electricity in Valles del Tuy, the region where she lived with her mother and two children, 3 and 6, was sporadic. Water was scarce, and most days they had barely enough to eat. With medical care in the South American country deteriorating, she worried what would happen if she or her children got sick.

Gonz谩lez knew of other Venezuelans who had traveled to neighboring Colombia and found work as street vendors or in restaurants or supermarkets. So she packed some belongings, hugged her babies, and boarded a bus for the 865-mile journey to the Colombian capital of Bogot谩.

For two years, she searched unsuccessfully for work, eventually returning to Venezuela because, she says, 鈥淚 did not want to end up sleeping in the streets and starving to death, as with some of my countrymen.鈥�

But after becoming pregnant, she decided that for the future of her family and unborn child, she needed to leave Venezuela again and return to Colombia.

In May 2019, her son, Teylor Jose Carmona, was among the first children born to Venezuelan mothers to be granted Colombian citizenship under a new policy known as , or Children First. It is one of the gestures Colombia has extended to Venezuelan migrants like Gonz谩lez and her family鈥攎aking the nation a global standout at a time when many other countries are closing their doors to refugees.

鈥淭his has been a blessing from God,鈥� Gonz谩lez says. 鈥淢y children are my life, for them I am here, far from my parents and my roots. Today, I have the oldest child in school and little by little I try to rebuild my life.鈥�

Since 2015, more than Venezuelans have fled the social, economic, and political turmoil as well as violence in their home country. Neighboring Colombia, which began its post-colonial history with Venezuela, has openly welcomed more refugees than any other country, about .

They have been accompanied by nearly 300,000 who, in recent decades, had emigrated to Venezuela, fleeing the effects of Colombia鈥檚 half-century of and seeking economic opportunity in Venezuela鈥檚 once-thriving economy.

This flood of people crossing the border in search of food, shelter, work, and medical care, and fleeing persecution and violence, has overwhelmed the country of 50 million, straining Colombian . It brought particular pressure to border regions like Norte de Santander, a department (similar to a U.S. state) on the Colombia/Venezuela border.

Colombia鈥檚 generous and welcoming policies have come as many countries in the region, as well as wealthier Western nations鈥攆rom the United States to Greece鈥攈ave enacted tough new policies restricting migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. And the country has become an on the international stage to draw global attention to the crisis next door.

鈥淎t a time when a lot of countries are closing their doors and either quite literally trying to build walls, or just introducing policies that are very restrictive or impractical to Venezuelans in particular, Colombia has been very generous,鈥� says Daphne Panayotatos, an advocate and program officer with Refugees International who wrote a calling on the world to bolster Colombia鈥檚 response.

鈥淢any Colombians see this as returning the favor,鈥� Panayotatos says. 鈥淚n fact, many of the people crossing the border to Colombia from Venezuela are themselves returning Colombians, either first generation鈥攚ho were displaced and are now returning鈥攐r second generation鈥攚hose parents were Colombian but who were born in Venezuela and are coming back.鈥�

In announcing the new citizenship program for the children of Venezuelan mothers, Colombia鈥檚 President Iv谩n Duque had a message for the world, saying, 鈥溾�� to those who want to use xenophobia for political goals: We take the path of fraternity.鈥�

Overnight, children who had been born stateless were eligible to receive all the benefits of Colombian citizenship, making it easier for them to access education and health care. 

He and other Colombian leaders are hopeful their country will benefit economically from the influx of professionals, including doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs among the refugees.

鈥淲e are working very hard just to help these people to get a formal job or to be entrepreneurs,鈥� says Felipe Mu帽oz, Duque鈥檚 advisor on the Colombian-Venezuelan border. 鈥淏ut this is not easy; there are lots of bottlenecks in our legal system that we need to break just to get them a legal route to more easily get a formal job.鈥�

The generosity of Duque鈥檚 right-wing government toward Venezuelans stands in stark contrast to the response by other conservative leaders around the world. And it contradicts Colombians鈥� views of Duque on other social issues.

In November, for example, thousands of Colombian workers, students, and human rights activists staged one of the largest anti-government demonstrations the country has seen in decades. The protests targeted Duque鈥檚 government and the president鈥檚 the 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), as well as economic and corruption reforms.

Help came early

The root of Venezuela鈥檚 problems can be traced to more than a decade of mismanagement of the country鈥檚 economy鈥攅specially its . Venezuela鈥檚 rich oil reserves once made the country the richest in South America, attracting immigrants from neighboring Colombia and elsewhere in the region seeking economic opportunities. But production of oil began to slow in the mid-2000s, and a drop in global oil prices in 2014 hit the country particularly hard.

The recession led to hyperinflation of the Venezuelan Bol铆var, which has made the currency nearly worthless today. The economic disaster led to shortages of food and medicine, turning an economic crisis into a humanitarian one. Meanwhile, corruption among the country鈥檚 political and military leadership has led the country鈥檚 leaders to largely deny the existence of a crisis. 

As conditions worsened, relations between Venezuela and Colombia deteriorated. In 2015, Colombia鈥檚 then-President Juan Manuel Santos responded to Venezuela鈥檚 expulsion of thousands of Colombians by for those returning home.

Colombia also grants citizenship to returnees鈥� Venezuelan family members. 鈥淲e want families to live together, not to break them apart,鈥� Colombian Foreign Minister Mar铆a 脕ngela Holgu铆n .

Across the country, dozens of institutions, international organizations, government agencies, and volunteers have formed a network to help integrate migrants into Colombian life, providing orientation to incoming refugees as soon as they step onto Colombian soil and guaranteeing food, lodging, and transportation to get people to and from work.

Colombia created a series of work permits known as , or PEP, to provide legal status to Venezuelans who entered the country without a visa. For those who qualify and are able to obtain the benefit, PEP not only provides permission to work but also access to the public hospital system, and it allows children to attend public schools. As of October, 2019, nearly .

In August, the government created a for more than 24,000 children born in Colombia since August 2015 to Venezuelan mothers, changing the country鈥檚 long-standing policy that required at least one parent to be a legal Colombian resident.

Overnight, children who had been were eligible to receive all the benefits of Colombian citizenship, making it easier for them to access education and health care.

鈥淭he Government of Colombia will contribute to prevent this vulnerable population from becoming stateless, representing a very important step to guarantee its integral protection,鈥� said the government in a statement.

A new life for refugees

At Divine Providence House, a soup kitchen operated by the Catholic Diocese of C煤cuta, Colombian and other volunteers have been preparing packed lunches daily for thousands of refugees.

C煤cuta is the capital of Norte de Santander and is about six miles from the Sim贸n Bol铆var International Bridge, which connects the two countries across the T谩chira River.

It鈥檚 an area where many Venezuelans have settled and Providence House鈥檚 director, Father David Ca帽as, says the facility has been serving about 4,500 pounds of food a day. Since it opened in 2017, about 3.3 million have been fed, something Ca帽as calls 鈥渁 miracle of love.鈥�

鈥淲e have had to persevere in the face of the great migration,鈥� Ca帽as says. 鈥淥ur volunteers get tired 鈥� because the work never ends, and we receive very little support.鈥�

This kind of generosity helps Venezuelans like Gonz谩lez, the mother of three who twice fled Venezuela for Colombia. She qualified for PEP and is now a legal Colombian resident.

Karen Rodr铆guez, who arrived in Colombia in August with her 3-year-old son, also qualified for PEP. Her husband left ahead of the family and rented a room inside a house in C煤cuta, where he worked as part of a crew that earns Colombian pesos carrying the luggage of people crossing daily between the countries.

Rodr铆guez, 20, was seven months pregnant when she and their son traveled more than 300 miles from their home in Valencia to join her husband. She wanted to cross the border as soon as possible, because she knew substandard medical conditions in Venezuela put her and her baby鈥檚 lives in danger if she gave birth there.

鈥淚 saw children dying in hospitals because of medical malpractice. My fear was this would happen to me. I decided to pack my bags and gave birth to my son in Colombia,鈥� Rodr铆guez says.

Her son, Isa铆as Pineda, was born in September at a hospital in C煤cuta, where births to Venezuelan mothers outnumber those to Colombian mothers . He received medical attention, which she doesn鈥檛 believe he would have in Venezuela. A few days before returning home, Isa铆as obtained his birth certificate, a document that entitles him to Colombian nationality.

Venezuelans living in Colombia are also working to help one another. One such initiative is Caminantes Tricolor, a foundation whose founder, Alans Ernesto Peralta, is a Venezuelan lawyer who fled to Colombia.

His foundation started out helping Venezuelans traveling by foot across the continent鈥攖o Peru, Ecuador and Chile鈥攊n search of new opportunities. 鈥淏ut I noticed that this was not easy, and the volunteers got tired,鈥� Peralta says.

Now, at Casa Morada, Caminantes Tricolor鈥檚 operation center in C煤cuta, Venezuelans are given orientation and support with immigration paperwork and finding work in industry, farming, and elsewhere. In 2018, the organization says it helped 1,800 people receive assistance with things like food, lodging, and clothes.

Recently, the organization formed an association that employs 40 people on a farm to plant sugar cane, a typical crop of the southern part of the country. 鈥淭his generates [unity] and sends this message: Venezuelans who are here, we want to work, we want to contribute to this development, because it is our own development,鈥� Peralta says.

 鈥淲e know that our impacts are small, like a drop in this great ocean of problems,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut we promote projects that can be replicated in other departments of Colombia. We want to plant an economic model, where Colombians and Venezuelans come together to share knowledge, culture and 鈥� progress.鈥�