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Recent events in Venezuela, Juan Guaido's self-proclaimed interim president on Wednesday, January 23, are being watched closely by thousands of Venezuelan refugees. More than a million of them are settled in Colombia, about 250,000 of them in Bogota, according to official figures. Testimonials.
In two years, dozens of small stalls are open in the Colombian capital. In particular, they sell arepas , these stuffed corn cakes, typically Venezuelan. For three days, we only talk about the events that wave the neighboring country and already we ask the question of return, as Johan a young server of 22 years.
" I really want to go back but when this dictatorship is totally gone, " Johan explains to our correspondent, Marie-Eve Detœuf . All this experience that we have accumulated here, or in other countries, will help us rebuild ours when we return. Yes we want something to happen, it changes . "
Manuel, 53, owns his tiny restaurant two blocks away. " Yes, there are who want to return. But I do not go back to Venezuela, I have no family there. Tour the world is gone. If my mother is not there, why am I going home? If I go back it will be tourist. See my country, my country as it was before not as it is now. .. »
Manuel like Johan lives staring at television and news from Caracas, praying to God, he says, so Nicolas Maduro will go away!
Colombia, which shares more than 2000 km of border with Venezuela, is the main host country for Venezuelan migrants who are fleeing the main economic crisis in the country.
Nearly 2.3 million people have left Venezuela since 2015, according to the UN, which appointed in September 19, 2018, a special representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants to promote dialogue and coordinate humanitarian responses.
► to (re) read : Maduro says "ready" to meet Guaido, who refuses a "false dialogue"