Foreigners at the border ask to go to Colombia

The crowd is growing day by day. In groups of 5, 10 or 20, people of Venezuelan and Colombian nationality continue to arrive on foot to the Rumichaca bridge, in the province of Carchi, bordering Colombia.

Foreigners at the border ask to go to Colombia

But the passage is prohibited. So the agglomeration is increasing and the walkers stay in place, because they have nowhere else to go. And everyone struggles to cross into Colombia and continue on his way.

This situation worries local authorities, as the accumulation of people becomes a possible source of covid-19 contagion.

“In the midst of the health emergency, during the last days it is common to see dozens of foreign citizens walking from Guayaquil and Quito through the North Pan-American Highway to the northern border,” said the Carchi Prefecture.

Many of them arrived at the bridge after walking for more than a week, in some cases, and others with greater physical condition, already exceed 60 days.

The lack of jobs and food and the fear of contagion in countries like Peru, Chile and Ecuador , forced these people to leave these nations to try to return to their homeland.

But the closure of the border with Colombia causes the repression of people. Now, according to calculations by the provincial authorities, there are about 100 citizens at the point.

For Guillermo Herrera, prefect of Carchi, it is necessary to agree between the foreign ministries of the three countries (Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela) to try to grant them a humanitarian corridor in an orderly manner and with the assurances of the case. “This way we avoid a possible increase in infections in our province,” he said. (I)