Colombians call for advance notice of influx of Venezuelan shoppers

In La Parada, the first Colombian neighborhood on the other side of the Simón Bolívar Bridge, one of the four land crossings between Colombia and Venezuela, drivers were having trouble finding passengers to fill the buses due to travel to border town Cúcuta on Monday morning. It was a different story on Sunday.

On that day there were more passengers than seats, after President Nicolás Maduro had ordered border security agents to “open the gate” on Saturday night. The Venezuelan government closed the border in August 2015 as part of a crackdown on smuggling. But Maduro’s announcement on Saturday allowed some 35,000 Venezuelans to rush across the border to stock up on food, medicine and other goods that are in short supply in the South American country.

Sales rose by 190 percent compared to the usual amount of business done on a Sunday when the border is closed

But by Monday morning, the influx had subsided: there is no sign of the newcomers in Norte de Santander province, in northeast Colombia. Business in the local shops is just as slow as it was 11 months ago. Police, immigration officers and Colombian customs agents are keeping up their routine by checking travelers’ papers as they cross the border. “Everything is as it was before,” people keep saying.

There is a similar atmosphere on Sixth Avenue in downtown Cúcuta. Residents are going about their usual business. “Today we brought back the usual staff,” says a manager at Los Montes supermarket. Thousands of Venezuelans shopped at the market on Sunday, spending the equivalent of two minimum wage salaries (15,000 bolivars a month, worth $15 dollars on the black market). On Monday morning, store clerks were working hard to restock shelves but it was just another ordinary day for other employees.

We want to tell President Santos that Venezuela cannot make these decisions unilaterally National federation of merchants chief Fenalco Cúcuta

According to Fenalco Cúcuta, the city’s branch of the national federation of merchants, sales rose by 190 percent compared to the usual amount of business done on a Sunday when the border is closed. The next day, the organization met to write a report addressed to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. “Although we have some scarcity issues because of the truck drivers’ strike, we can respond to situations like this,” said Gladys Navarro, Fenalco’s chief in the region. “But we want to tell President Santos that Venezuela cannot make these decisions unilaterally.”

Police, government workers and merchants all say they can maintain peace and order but there is uncertainty in their tone. “Negotiations between the two countries continue and within 20 days the foreign ministers will meet,” said Víctor Bautista, an advisor on border issues at the Colombian Foreign Ministry. Colombian Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín announced on Monday morning that she will meet with her Venezuelan counterpart, Delcy Rodríguez, on August 4. The location of that meeting has not been announced.

“We hope that this meeting will be followed by others between the defense ministers and presidents,” Holguín said.

Venezuelans who crossed the border on Sunday said they will do it as many times as they can. Businesses in Cúcuta are still counting the profits they made on Sunday as the streets swarm with rumors that a similar situation might happen again. Neither country has said exactly how many of the 35,000 Venezuelans who crossed the border into Colombia returned home. “The great majority,” is the only clue Holguín gave to reporters.

English version by Dyane Jean François.