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The number of Venezuelans in Colombia falls for the second consecutive month


Bogotá continues to be the region with the largest number of Venezuelans, with 352,627, followed by the department of Norte de Santander, which has the main border crossing point between the two countries, with 203,000 migrants.

By:
EFE


The number of Venezuelan migrants who have settled in Colombia decreased for the second consecutive month, going from 1,809,000 people in March to 1,788,380 in April, according to the most recent report by the authorities, which point to the persistence of the crisis as the main cause. of the coronavirus in the region.

“This supposes a reduction of 1%”, said the director of Migration Colombia, Juan Francisco Espinosa, in a press conference in which he added that in the country there are currently 763,544 regular migrants and a little more than 1,024,000 irregular .

Last month was the first time that figure fell in five years, from 1,825,000 migrants in February to 1,809,000 last March, 0.9% less.

Espinosa said that Bogotá continues to be the region with the largest number of Venezuelans, with 352,627, followed by the department of Norte de Santander, which has the main border crossing between the two countries, with 203,000 migrants.

Integration with Venezuela

The official affirmed that they are carrying out “work to achieve greater capacity for Venezuela to receive its people.”

According to the provisions of the Government of President Nicolás Maduro, the transit of people through humanitarian corridors can only be done on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, in groups that do not exceed 300 on the Simón Bolívar bridge in Norte de Santander, and up to 100 by the José Antonio Páez bridge, in Arauca.

This hinders the flow of migrants who want to return to their country from Colombia, so there are some 30,000 stranded waiting who have notified their willingness to leave according to the latest count by the authorities, Espinosa said.

“For all the migrants who want to leave to reach their country, it would take almost all that is left of 2020,” added the official.

So they are studying how to speed up the process without a “show vision that we do not share” and in a “strict manner with human rights,” he said.

Espinosa also stated that since March 14 at least 81,000 Venezuelans have returned to their country since Colombia, due to the pandemic contingency, which in the coffee country has so far left 51,707 infected and 3,223 dead.

Regarding the situation of the nearly 400 Venezuelans who camp in areas of the north and south-west of Bogotá, Espinosa said that due to the limitations imposed by the Maduro government, Colombia cannot help them return because it would “generate additional pressure towards areas of border where crowds of people also cause a higher risk of covid-19 infection “.

According to UNHCR, Venezuela is the second country in number of citizens who have been forced to leave their nation, whose exodus is more than 5 million people and thus exceeds nations like Afghanistan (2.7 million) South Sudan ( 2.2 million) and Burma (1.1 million), lagging behind Syria, with 6.6 million refugees.

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