Colombia: Catholic volunteers provide meals for refugees from Venezuela

Source: Fides

While the eyes of the world are turned towards the tense situation on the US - Mexican border where thousands of migrants are arriving each day from Central America and waiting to be allowed to enter the United States - another emergency is taking place on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. Every day - a large group of Venezuelans wait in long queues, to receive a plate of 'pasta with tuna'. They arrive starving from different parts of Venezuela, with the intention of continuing their journey to the south of Latin America, perhaps Peru.

They are welcomed by a group of Catholic volunteers. More than 200 of the work in the 'Divina Providencia' canteen, in Villa del Rosario, Norte de Santander, less than 500 metres from the Simón Bolívar international bridge.

This group of volunteers, Colombians and Venezuelans, coordinated by the diocese of Cucuta and by the parishes of the area, receives food supplies from the Banco Mundial de Alimentos, which manages food supplied by the United Nations. They prepare about 3,000 meals a day.

"The economic crisis and lack of food have led us to leave Venezuela. I have always believed that there is no point in criticizing, so I stayed here to help my compatriots, with what is most lacking in my country: food" - said Alexis José Rivero López, from Venezuela, who arrived in Colombia 10 months ago.

According to the UN, about 2.3 million people have left Venezuela since 2014, when an acute economic crisis began. Colombia has welcomed more than a million, while almost one million Venezuelans have been registered in Peru.