- beer_war
- Mar 10, 2005
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An article in Colombian magazine Semana, translation (and any mistakes in it) are mine:
quote:
Crisis on the border with Venezuela: the 'sin' of being Colombian
Hundreds of Colombians residing in Venezuela were deported, stripped of their belongings and separated from their families.
"I didn't see what letter they marked my home with." Like a bird, that doubt is making its nest in his head. Jesús' house in the municipality of San Antonio del Táchira (Venezuela) was a 'ranch' of cans and tables (?). It was not large or luxurious, but it was what he had built with what he earned as a street vendor for 15 years in the neighboring country.
His house will most likely be demolished. If so, soldiers of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) have marked the facade with the letter D (demolish) and might have knocked it over already.
Or if he was lucky, which he does not believe, it was marked with the letter R (Revised). Either way he's lost, because according to him and other deportees who talked to Semana.com, the Venezuelan soldiers sack whatever they find in they way.
"They are taking things of value. Motorcycles, refrigerators, computers. What you worked so hard to buy they steal. I don't know if they knocked over my house, but I know I lost it all", Jesús told.
That anxiety that wracks Jesús is the same that accompanies the more than one thousand people have been deported from Venezuela since last Friday. And it is also the future fear of thousands of Colombians still living in the neighboring country who will soon be charged with the 'sin' of being Colombian.
It all started last Wednesday when President Nicolás Maduro declared a border closure because three soldiers working in an anti-smuggling operation had been attacked by alleged Colombian paramilitaries.
To cope with what had happened, Maduro not only extended the closure of the border since Friday, but also decreed a state of emergency that will last 60 days, as - according to him - Colombians seriously affect the security of their nation. "Those responsible are being looked for even under rocks," said the president. His sentence was fulfilled.
Based on that, Maduro authorized the FANB to search the houses of the Colombians and, if necessary, knock them over. For the Socialist regime of Nicolás Maduro there are no limitations.
Thanks to the state of emergency, the military arbitrarily entered the houses of Colombians in San Antonio de Táchira, a municipality that is on the border and in which about 70% of the residents are Colombians.
Then they take them out of their homes on the pretext of taking them to a police station to verify the background and whether their documentation is in order. However, the papers do not really matter, all that matters is whether they are Colombian.
"We are taken out of the houses and they tell us that we'll soon go back, but that's a lie. We can never return.", Jesús, who fortunately left on Saturday together with his wifes, his six kids and a niece, told us.
Without a goodbye
"They took me out of my house and told me that I will soon return. I trusted that and let my two sons to wait for me. I left them for fear that something happened to them, and it turned out worse because they wouldn't let me go back to them. Now I don't know where they are. After that they told us they are looting our houses", a sobbing mother told us. She asked not to be named because she fears they won't return her kids to her.
The deported fathers and mothers who had no time to take their children out are afraid they will be ordered to shelters. "They are leaving many children there who were born in Venezuela, but their Colombian parents are deported. They told us the children could be adopted or sent to a shelter", Jesús explained.
Since the state of emergency was decreed, Cúcuta and Villa del Rosario (Norte de Santander) receive the Colombians who have been stripped of their belongings and even their families. The scenes are dramatic and border on the absurd. While on the Colombian side the deportees mourn their misfortune, on the other side you can see the family and friends left behind, shouting to them that they have lost everything.
This has long been coming
The chaos on the Colombian-Venezuelan border led to widespread criticism of President Juan Manuel Santos for not anticipating what might happen.
And that criticism is not without reason. In the first half of this year the situation already went out of control. So much so that on March 11 it was announced that 933 Colombians were deported in 70 days. An average of 13 people a day.
The numbers are not the worst. Semana.com then spoke with some deportees who claimed to have been mistreated. The Ombudsman's Office also confirmed the abuses. "Some have been mistreated at the time of deportation. Some were not allowed to use the toilet or were forced to endure hunger", it said.
Even since the beginning the government of President Nicolas Maduro deportation began to take hold. According to information from the Ombudsman's Office, more than 7,000 people have been returned to Colombia since 2013.
This situation has been coming. Why was no action was taken to prevent the chaos on the border? "I do not know why the government did nothing. The situation has been bad for a while, but no one showed. Now, with tears and blood, we are being charged for being Colombian", Jesús concluded.
http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/crisis-en-la-frontera-con-venezuela-el-pecado-de-ser-colombianos/439807-3
beer_war fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Aug 25, 2015
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Aug 25, 2015 15:32
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Apr 24, 2024 10:25
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- punk rebel ecks
- Dec 11, 2010
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A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.
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It seems that the PSUV is so incompetent that they stole government notes from Israel rather than Cuba.
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Aug 25, 2015 15:39
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- Chuck Boone
- Feb 12, 2009
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El Turpial
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Right now, the state of exception applies only to six municipalities in Tachira state. The official opposition bloc (the Mesa de la Unidad Democratica) has been saying since this whole business started last week that it's possible that the PSUV could try to disrupt the electoral process by extending the state of exception to other areas of the country. It's not far-fetched to imagine that, if paramilitary activity was detected in Miranda or Aragua states for example, then the state of exception (and the accompanying suspension of rights) could be declared in those areas as well.
That's the primary concern the MUD is voicing right now. Normally, I don't go in for that kind of speculation, but if there's one thing that I've learned about Venezuela is that unfortunately, you can never say never.
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Aug 25, 2015 17:01
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- JeffersonClay
- Jun 17, 2003
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by R. Guyovich
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It's a shame these Colombian refugees are victims of Right wing paramilitarism twice over, fleeing it in in their homeland and then facing it in Venezuela cultivated by the right wing opposition. But what else can Venezuela do to stop this serious security threat?
How do the refugees represent a security threat? If you change right wing to cartel and Venezuela to America, this would fit right in at Breitbart.com
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Aug 25, 2015 17:22
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- XyloJW
- Jul 23, 2007
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I'm closing this thread, because a new thread is about to be posted, so don't panic, okay?
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Aug 25, 2015 19:48
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Aug 25, 2015 15:32
