Thousands cross Venezuela border shopping for scarce food

SAN ANTONIO DEL TACHIRA, Venezuela – Tens of thousands of Venezuelans, some of whom drove through the night in caravans, crossed the border into Colombia on Sunday to hunt for food and medicine that are in short supply at home.

It’s the second weekend in a row that Venezuela’s socialist government has opened the long-closed border connecting Venezuela to Colombia, and by 6 a.m., a line of would-be shoppers snaked through the entire town of San Antonio del Tachira. Some had traveled in chartered buses from cities 8 hours away.

Venezuela’s government closed all crossings a year ago to crack down on smuggling along the 1,378-mile border. It complained that speculators were causing shortages by buying up subsidized food and gasoline in Venezuela and taking them to Colombia, where they could be sold for far higher prices.

But shortages have continued to mount in Venezuela amid triple-digit inflation, currency controls that have restricted imports and investment and a collapse in the oil prices that fund government spending.

Although the border was heavily patrolled by the military, the crowds were mostly orderly amid an atmosphere of tense excitement. A few activists were handing out anti-government pamphlets, looking to galvanize the frustration that has characterized food riots and long lines outside supermarkets in recent weeks.

Some of those waiting to cross made anti-government chants and sang the national anthem, but there was no appetite for confrontation. They were focused on the prospect of fully stocked supermarket shelves and the opportunity to buy even non-essential indulgences like nail polish and beer.

“It’s kind of crazy day,” said Alejandro Chacon, who owns a hardware store in the nearby town of San Cristobal and is crossing the border for the first time since the closure. “It’s strange to see this, but we know we’re going to find what we want in Colombia, so it’s a nice difference.”

Colombian officials dressed in white shirts individually welcomed those arriving while police handed out cake and blasted out festive vallenato tunes, the traditional music beloved on both sides of the border. Roadside kiosks set up by entrepreneurs took payment in Venezuela’s currency for goods at a steep discount from what they cost on the black market back home.

“It’s sad to be doing this but we also know over there we’ll find something,” said Rosa Cardenas, a 70-year-old retired school teacher accompanied by a 5-month-old granddaughter.

An estimated 35,000 Venezuelans crossed the border on Saturday, the first day of what Colombian government is calling a humanitarian corridor.

President Nicolas Maduro is trying to deflate any talk of a humanitarian crisis and instead blames its political enemies and self-serving smugglers for the shortages. He dismissed as a “media show” the jarring images a few weeks ago of 500 women pushing through the checkpoint, saying they were desperate to buy food.

On Sunday, state TV ran footage of Venezuelans returning from Colombia empty-handed, dissuaded by what they said was price-gouging and the threat of violence by their neighbors.