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Since Sunday, August 25 from midnight, Quito requires that Venezuelan migrants carry a humanitarian visa. Those who did not, briefly blocked the main crossing point between Ecuador and Colombia. A day of confusion marked by the death of a traveler.
With our correspondent in Quito, Eric Samson
Luis Alberto Araujo, 58, died on Monday at the Rumichaca border crossing, apparently suffering from a heart attack. Stuck in the middle of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, the man could not be revived. Sad irony, he did not need a visa to pass since he was Ecuadorian. Residing in Venezuela , he came to get drugs not found in Caracas.
Without a visa and therefore banned from entering Ecuador, hundreds of migrants blocked the border bridge for a few hours, preventing the passage of buses and cars. Many claimed to be transported directly to the Peruvian border, unaware for some that Lima has also asked for a visa for two months and they were therefore stranded in the desert north of Tumbes.
Determined not to move
Given the length of queues, the Ecuadorian migration authorities agreed to send Venezuelans who left the Colombian border post before midnight Sunday, 25 August. More than 13,000 Venezuelan migrants were admitted to Ecuador last weekend.
►Also read: Influx of Venezuelan migrants on the Equatorial Colombian border
All others are invited to return to Bogota or Caracas to apply for a humanitarian visa at an Ecuadorian consulate, which they have neither the means nor the intention to make. In the cold of the Andean night, their plan is rather to provoke a traffic jam such as the Ecuadorian authorities will have to resolve to let them pass.