This recent Christmas, Yakelin Timaure did not decorate his house with lights and did not buy Hallas, the traditional food of his native Venezuela. He could not even give gifts to his two sons, aged 10 and 15, with whom he crossed the border with Colombia two years ago through illegal crossings and walked 500 kilometers to Bogotá.
“I tell my children that the important thing now is that we have health. So, on the 24th and 31st we don’t have clothes or shoes, we are here together “, Yakelin declared for The Associated Press.
Colombia is the country in the world that hosts the most Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Official figures estimate 1,700,000 people, of whom 56% are in the country illegally.
Yakelin, 38, is a nurse by profession. Their skilled and necessary workforce in a pandemic was not used because they did not have a passport or permission to work in Colombia. Several times a week she works in a foundation cleaning and helping children with homework.
The unemployment rate among migrants living in Colombia for one year reached 20.8% between November 2019 and October 2020, compared to 20.9% in the same period last year, according to the Administrative Department of the National Statistics Department, DANE.
The money is not enough for Yakelin: he earns $ 115 a month and has to pay 100 for a rental in La Merced, a popular neighborhood with steep and dusty streets south of Bogotá.
At home he has a four-seater dining room with only two chairs, a small stove and a refrigerator in which he stores ice to sell in bags, as a way to earn more income. There are two rooms: one for the two children and one for her and her partner, who has informal and sporadic jobs.
Yakelin belongs to a large family. She is the eldest of seven siblings and remembers that at Christmas they all met in a Venezuelan city in the state of Lara, eight hours from Caracas. They had dinner with their parents and gave the children a cake.
“I am very attached to my mother. I always told her I would never leave her alone. She is now ill, has broken her leg and cannot walk. I’m very worried. I send him 20,000 pesos (about six dollars), but it’s not the same. It is very difficult to raise money for tickets in Venezuela “, said the woman.
Even in the midst of the pandemic and the economic constraints they have, there are Venezuelan migrants who have traveled to their country to visit their families for Christmas and bring them scarce resources to their country, where the minimum wage is below a dollar a month. .
“Human mobility has declined due to the pandemic, but it has not disappeared. It appears in both directions, “said AP Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario.” In real terms, what closed the border is to increase the illegal crossing of people. “
In the border town of Cúcuta, Emmy Colmenares, a Venezuelan, and her partner, John Moreno, a Colombian, are working to transport suitcases through illegal crossings that connect with the state of Táchira. Paradoxically, they have not been to Venezuela for two years to visit their relatives.
“One day we make four trips to carry suitcases, each for 10 pesos (three dollars) and sometimes nothing comes out,” John, 37, told the AP.
During the quarantine, which began in Colombia on March 25 and ended in September, its economic situation worsened. They could not work, and the 33-year-old Emmy had to rest because of her pregnancy.
“Sometimes there is a cake, but this year there will be no natilla (typical Christmas dessert),” the Colombian added.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the already precarious situation of Venezuelan migrants and refugees has been exacerbated by measures seeking to stop the spread of COVID-19, such as closures, time-lapse and border closures, according to the UN Refugee Agency in its 2021 plan for care migrants and refugees, presented on 10 December.