Displaced by crisis, hundreds of Venezuelan families celebrate Christmas in Colombian bus terminals. Newspaper El Heraldo visited the 60 families in the port city of Barranquilla.
Some 300 people are estimated to spend Christmas in the port city. Many flocked to Barranquilla looking for ways to feed their families.
According to Colombia’s migration authority, almost 500,000 Venezuelans fled to Colombia this year as the economic and political crisis in the neighboring country deepened.
Andry Pacheco via El Heraldo
Freddy Sulbaran via El Heraldo
Colombian authorities have been overwhelmed by the influx of Venezuelans, who depend mainly on the generosity of locals and provisional street vending jobs to survive.
Also on Christmas Eve local churches and volunteers delivered presents for the approximately 75 children that have been living in the bus terminal.
Locals give away presents to Venezuelan children and their mothers. (Image credit: El Heraldo)
The relief secured food for the refugees, many of whom have never spent Christmas away from their families and are praying to return to Venezuela.