More Venezuelans Flee As Crisis Deepens

People line up, right, to cross over the Simon Bolivar international bridge to Colombia to take advantage of the temporary border opening as others come back after shopping in San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, July 16, 2016.REUTERS/Carlos Eduardo Ramirez

The Guardian: 'At home, we couldn’t get by': more Venezuelans flee as crisis deepens

As Venezuela falls further into turmoil, more of its citizens are leaving a country that once served as a haven for economic migrants and political refugees.

There are no luxuries in the four-room house in southern Bogotá, where 12 recently arrived Venezuelans huddle on thin mattresses under even thinner blankets to ward off the Andean mountain chill. They have no hot water, and what few furnishings they have were salvaged from a nearby dump.

They work 12-hour shifts at car washes or kitchens, earning between $6.50 and $13 a day. Because most do not have work permits, they are under constant threat of deportation.

But life here is better than what they left back home in Venezuela’s Zulia state, said Paola González, 21, who arrived in Bogotá in mid-June. “At least now a day of work allows us enough to eat and even send some money back home,” she says. “In Venezuela, we couldn’t get by.”

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WNU editor: A part of me wonders if Venezuelan President Maduro is hoping for a Cuban type of solution to the crisis .... where those who are fed with the current situation (primarily your opponents) simply leave. But Venezuela is not Cuba .... there are too many people involved, and the crisis has reached a certain breaking point where for many the prospect of leaving their families and loved ones to fend for themselves is simply not an option.

Update: Venezuelan opposition calls for nationwide strike (AP)