Last Christmas, Yakelin Timaure did not decorate his house with light and did not buy Hallas, the traditional food of his native Venezuela. Nor was he able to give gifts to his two sons, aged 10 and 15, with whom he crossed the border into Colombia two years ago via illegal crossings and walked 500 kilometers to reach Bogotá.
‘I tell my children that it is important that we have health right now. So on the 24th and 31st we don’t have clothes or shoes, we’re here together, ”Yakelin told The Associated Press.
Colombia is the country in the world that receives the most Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Official figures estimate 1,700,000 people, 56% of whom reside irregularly in the country.
Yakelin, 38, is a nurse. His qualified and necessary workforce in a pandemic has not been used because he does not have a passport or permission to work in Colombia. A few times a week she works in a foundation to clean children and help children with homework.
The unemployment rate among the migrant population who lived in Colombia for a year was 20.8% in the period from November 2019 to October 2020, compared to 20.9% in the same period of the previous year, according to the administrative division National Statistical Division, DANE.
The money isn’t enough for Yakelin: he earns $ 115 a month and has to pay $ 100 for a rent in La Merced, a popular neighborhood with steep and dusty streets south of Bogotá.
In his home, he has a four-seater dining room with just two chairs, a small stove, and a refrigerator in which he stores ice to sell in bags as a way to earn more income. There are two rooms, one for her two children and one for her and her partner, who has casual and occasional jobs.
Yakelin belongs to a large family. The eldest of seven siblings, she remembers all meeting at Christmas in a Venezuelan town in Lara state, eight hours from Caracas. They made dinner with their parents and gave the children cake.
“I am very attached to my mother. I always told her I would never leave her alone. Now she is ill, has broken her foot and cannot walk. I am very concerned. I’ll send him 20,000 pesos (about six dollars), but it’s not the same. It is very difficult to raise money for tickets to Venezuela, ”said the woman.
Even in the midst of the pandemic and with the economic constraints they have, there are Venezuelan migrants who have traveled to their country at Christmas to visit their families and bring their resources scarce in their country where the minimum wage is below a dollars per month.
“People’s mobility has decreased as a result of the pandemic, but it has not disappeared. It’s happening both ways, ”said Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Observatory of Venezuela at Universidad del Rosario, to the AP. “In reality, the border closure has resulted in more irregular passage of people.”
In the border town of Cúcuta, Emmy Colmenares, a Venezuelan, and her partner John Moreno, a Colombian, work to transport suitcases across the illegal border crossings linked to the state of Táchira. Paradoxically, they have not been to Venezuela in two years to visit their relatives.
“One day we make four trips to carry suitcases, each for 10 pesos (three dollars) and sometimes nothing comes out,” John, 37, told the AP,
During the quarantine, which started in Colombia on March 25 and ended in September, its economic situation deteriorated. They were unable to work and Emmy, 33, had to rest due to her pregnancy.
“Sometimes there is a cake, but this year there is no natilla (typical Christmas dessert),” added the Colombian.
According to the UN Agency for Refugees in its plan to care for migrants and refugees for 2021, presented Dec. 10.