Two countries, Colombia and Venezuela, will reopen their shared border following a new agreement Thursday.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Venezuelan counterpart President Nicolas Maduro, have decided to open five parts of the border for pedestrian crossing. Most of the foot traffic will come from Venezuela into Colombia, as residents of the socialist country will try and buy all sorts of basic goods, like toilet paper. Many Venezuelans are so desperate for food that they have resorted to robbing trucks filled with chickens and dumpster-diving.
Venezuela has seen its economy decline sharply in recent years, particularly after the March 2013 death of President Hugo Chavez. The oil-rich country is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and has 24.8 percent of the world’s proven crude oil reserves, the largest of any country.
Despite its immense oil wealth, Venezuela has severe supply and demand issues, recently running out of beer, for example. Keeping the lights on is also a challenge, with frequent government-mandated power outages. The International Monetary Fund expects inflation to reach over 700 percent by the end of 2016, which would make it the worst in the world.
Santos clarified the border arrangement, saying that “we will open the border in an orderly manner, a controlled manner and in a gradual manner.” The border will be reopened Saturday, Aug. 20. People will be allowed to travel between the two countries at the five designated checkpoints between the hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Colombia Time (COT).
The genesis of new Colombian efforts at diplomatic cooperation comes in the wake of tens of thousands of Venezuelans rushing into Colombia in July, when the Maduro regime temporarily allowed border crossings. Colombia claims that on Saturday, July 16, over 35,000 Venezuelans traveled to their country, presumably looking to buy food. Over 88,000 people were recorded as having traveled from Venezuela into Colombia at the weekend’s conclusion.
Before the temporary July border re-opening, the Venezuelan-Colombian border had been shuttered for almost a year at Maduro’s command. As a result of that desperate weekend, Colombia decided to no longer green-light temporary border re-openings and instead, Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Angela Holguin said, “Let’s work so that the opening, the next opening, is definitive.”
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