Now Venezuela is creating an ugly refugee problem with forced deportations

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-has-deported-thousands-of-colombians-2015-4

Two Colombian states bordering Venezuela have declared themselves on permanent alert because of “massive deportations” from the neighboring country in recent weeks.

According to figures from Colombian officials, more than 1,400 Colombians had been deported from Venezuela through the beginning of April. Deportees alleged “maltreatment on the part of Venezuelan authorities,” and says they were made to walk for hours without food or water. One man, a resident of Venezuela for nearly 30 years, was reportedly forced to leave his wife and children behind.

While much of the focus on Venezuela in recent months has been on the country’s unwinding economy, political strife, the Colombian government has been occupied with getting to the bottom of this refugee problem. It has already asked its neighbor several times this year to verify “the procedures that have been applied in this immigration measure” in response to reports that hundreds of Colombians had suffered abuses during deportation from Venezuela.

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Venezuelan authorities have gone so far as to arrest two single mothers from Colombia for crossing the border to shop, locking them up for 48 days over a $15 grocery trip. Fixed prices in Venezuela have made reselling Venezuelan goods in Colombia a lucrative practice for criminals and civilians, Venezuelans and Colombians alike.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-has-deported-thousands-of-colombians-2015-4#ixzz3WqYt6n1y