By Richard McColl
BOGOTA, Colombia
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday announced a series of aid packages for Colombians expelled from Venezuela in the midst of a deepening diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
The measure includes guaranteed schooling for children; immediate jobs for up to 2,300 residents; a monthly housing subsidy of 250,000 pesos ($77) per family; an increase in national gasoline subsidies; and health screening for all those crossing back into Colombia to ensure no outbreak of infectious diseases.
“As president, I have the obligation to protect these people from all types of abuse and I am going to do so. We feel their pain and outrage,” he said.
A total of 1,097 Colombians have been expelled from their homes in Venezuela since the border was closed last week between Cúcuta, Colombia, and San Antonio de Táchira, Venezuela.
As many as 5,000 more Colombians are estimated to have fled their homes in Venezuela by crossing the Táchira River due to fear of harassment by Venezuelan authorities.
Homes have been demolished as Venezuelan authorities seek to expel Colombians they say are residing illegally in the country, and accuse them of trying to overthrow the government.
“They are not paramilitaries, they are poor and humble families whose only desire is that they want to be left alone to live and work,” Santos told the media Wednesday while visiting Cúcuta. “Raising your voice and being confrontational does not help resolve the situation,” he added in an apparent statement addressed to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Professor Jorge Ivan Cuervo from Bogota’s Externado University sees the border crisis as a chance for Santos to show strength and leadership as he deals with another pressing issue for his government.
"It is time for Santos to disconnect the relationship of the Maduro government in Venezuela with the negotiations in Havana,” he said in reference to current peace talks with the rebel FARC guerrillas taking place in Cuba. “In a moment of ebbing popularity, this is a window of opportunity for the president to combat these problems firmly and with clarity," he added.
Maduro ordered the border closed Aug. 20 after smugglers injured three Venezuelan soldiers and a civilian, and he accused Colombians living in Venezuela’s border regions of being involved in contraband activities and linked them to paramilitary groups set on destabilizing his government.
While Colombian politicians from all sides have expressed outrage at the actions of the Venezuelan government, support for the move has come from an unlikely source: former Colombian president Ernesto Samper who currently heads the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) -- a regional political and economic bloc.
"A year ago we warned of the danger of Colombian paramilitary groups in Venezuelan territory. Today this is a confirmed reality," Samper said last week in a declaration that prompted cries of "anti-Colombian" from Colombia’s Congress.
Sen. Viviane Morales Hoyos said Thursday that Unasur countries may want to reconsider Samper’s election. "He is not fulfilling the principles which led to the group’s foundation which are the defense of human rights and democratic values," she said.
The chancellors of Venezuela and Colombia held closed doors emergency talks Wednesday in the Colombian city of Cartagena but little, if anything, was agreed.
