Colombia cancels the field of migrants in Venezuela while the exodus continues

The Colombian authorities evacuated a camp that housed Venezuelan immigrants in Bogota on Tuesday, dismantling the temporary shelter despite the expected flow of refugees from the neighboring country.

The yellow tents that once housed the families were piled up in a corner of the soccer field, which in November became a temporary shelter for about 600 Venezuelan immigrants who first slept outside the city's main bus terminal.

Carmen Núñez, who turned 58 on Tuesday, started crying in front of the authorities because she had no idea where to go. "Now where, on the street?" He said with the stick in his hand. "I have no money but I want to go to Venezuela, at least there I have a place to stay."

The officials offered him transportation to the city of Cúcuta, on the border with Venezuela, but the woman said she had no money to return to her home on the Venezuelan coast. Other migrants were with their personal belongings at the entrance of the camp, very supervised.

From the beginning it was established on January 15th as the closing date of the camp, partly as a response to Colombian pressures due to the increasing presence of migrants.

The UN says that about 3 million people have left Venezuela since 2015, trying to escape an economic collapse with hyperinflation that put food and basic medicines out of reach of most citizens .

It is estimated that another 2 million citizens will emigrate this year. The vast majority travel by land through Colombia, although many continue to other parts of South America.

Cristina Vélez, secretary of the social integration of Bogotá, said at a press conference that the city does not plan to open more shelters, unless there are extraordinary circumstances that justify it.

"I do not know what I will do," said Junior Palacios, 23, of Caracas, sitting outside the camp with four friends. "I do not want to go back (in Venezuela), it's a question of going on and making a living here somehow."