Colombia Expat Forum

CAtoMDE
Joined 2016
Posts: 420

5 years ago

Returned from Cucuta - unscientific Venezuelan road count

5 years ago

Just returned from Cucuta - unscientific Venezuelan road count:

So I spent almost one week in Cucuta and just now returned home.

I backtracked on Route 55 then Route 66 (at Pamplona) and the drive from Cucuta to Bucarmanga (+/- 195km) took me 6 hrs and 20 minutes (1-1/2 more because of 2 accidents).

During this 6 plus hour drive I counted 412 Venezuelans (+/- 5%) walking on this route from Cucuta to Bucarmanga. This includes only those visible on the road walking or briefly stopping for a break standing or sitting on the road side and does not include any who may have been in any of the small tiendas or off the path of the road.

As my time window consisted of roughly half of the day light you can double this 412 x 2 which totals about 800 Venezuelans traveling each day, actually the starting point of their journey and this is for one route out of Cucuta as their are others can travel north.

Now these people, I believe, are only a small fraction of the daily migration from Cucuta as this group does not have the funds to travel by bus which leads to my next extrapolation.

I spent an hour in the main bus terminal in centro Cucuta and observed the buses leaving to other cities about one full load every 7 to 12 minutes. The majority of passengers on these buses were primarily Venezuelans who could manage to afford the travel.

So average one bus every 10 minutes with 25 Venezuelans (+/- 70% of the passengers) or approximately totals about 150 Venezuelans each hour, night and day or 3,600 each day traveling by bus.

Bus 3,600 and 800 walking (towards Bucarmanga only) totals 4,400 migrating each day. And the border is technically closed, they travel over through the foot paths.

Of those walking on the road the vast majority (ie 70%) are young men in their 20's, some with wife and/or GF and half of that group have 1 to 3 babies/young kids in tow. A few whole families including the grandparents were observed.

I could not help think that these 20 somethings should be real angry at their parents and grandparents who supported originally Chavez and buying into all the BS promises then idly standing by for decades while their country goes into ruin.

Do the parents and grand parents have any responsibility for the complete mess that they are now faced with? I would argue yes.

Then compound the problem is that these 20 somethings have no sense of what work is, what real initiative is, a byproduct of socialism they just want to suck off the government, this is all they know which now translates them selling/peddling small candies, has anyone seen any of these 20 somethings working on a farm, digging the soil, repairing a fence for days and weeks, cultivating the ground, doing real work?

Just my random thoughts.

William Russell

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William Russell

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William Russell

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