"If I go back to Venezuela, I'll have to go to prison for 10 years." Jackssel Mujica has good reasons for turning his back on his homeland. A former member of the Bolivarian National Guard, he has fled the country. As a deserter, he is facing a long prison term should he return.

"I couldn't bear the orders anymore," says the 28-year-old. As a soldier, he was told to help put down the protests in the country, often using violence and tear gas, "but there were family members and friends among the people ... and they were all protesting because they were starving."

Read more: How Venezuela gets plundered

Begging in exile

Jackssel Mujica is sending remittances to his family and friends. He sends 10,000 pesos from Colombia almost every day. This amount of money, the equivalent of three dollars (€1.90), is hardly enough to pay for a meal in Colombia, but it meets the nutritional needs of a whole family in Venezuela.

However, the former soldier cannot find work. Mujica has been living in the city of Ipiales in southwestern Colombia, only 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the Ecuadorian border, for six months now. He spends his days here begging at the roadside with a sign explaining his difficult situation to passersby and drivers. He makes ends meet together with his cousin, Yiron, and other compatriots. Each of them must collect five to six dollars daily to pay for accommodation and food.

Read more:Multilateral approach needed to contain Venezuela’s refugee crisis, experts warn

Selling candy and begging are two ways Venezuelans try to earn a living in Colombia

Colombia is overwhelmed with refugees

Up to 4,000 Venezuelans have crossed the border from Colombia to Ecuador in recent months. Most of them have left their home country because they were starving. Many are trying to help their families with money transfers from abroad.

Most had planned to go further south, to Peru or Chile. But since Ecuador restricted the passage, many have found themselves stuck in Colombia. Most do not have a passport and therefore cannot legally enter Ecuador. Colombia tolerates them, but they don't really feel welcome.

Tearful regrets

"Many treat us like dirt," says Alvaro Teran. The former lawyer sells coffee from a thermos and traditional Venezuelan pastries called "arepas" in the center of Ipiales. When he talks about his past, he can't stop the tears.

Alvaro Teran's brother has also deserted. He was a member of the Venezuelan military and fled a few years ago to Brazil.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Iconic image Each day 30,000 to 40,000 people cross the 315-meter-long (1,000-foot-long) Simon Bolivar bridge (pictured) between Venezuela and Colombia. Since September 2015 some 20 million Venezuelans have crossed into the neighboring Colombian province of Norte de Santander, says its governor William Villamizar. At the same time, he adds, 17 million individuals have been registered as entering Venezuela.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Shopping over the border Most Venezuelans come to Colombia to stock up on basic food stuff and medicine. It is cheaper there than in their own country, where inflation has spiraled out of control and made the Bolivar, Venezuela's currency, nearly worthless. Some 3 million citizens are thought to have permanently migrated to Colombia.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Refugiados welcome? Colombians initially welcomed fleeing Venezuelans with open arms, just like Germans welcomed refugees in summer 2015. But now, experts say, the mood has shifted. Many have begun demanding the government provide less financial support to refugees and instead invest more in helping ordinary Colombians. However, aid for refugees is still provided in reception centers (above).

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Heading south According to official figures, approximately 1 million Venezuelan nationals currently reside in Colombia. Given that a total of 3 million Venezuelans crossed into Colombia, about 2 million must have traveled onward. In the first half of 2018 alone, over 500,000 of them migrated to Colombia's southern neighbor Ecuador.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Stopover in Ecuador Ecuadorian authorities estimate that only 20 percent of Venezuelan nationals who arrived in the country in 2018 permanently settled there, like this family living in a makeshift camp near the capital, Quito. Most Venezuelans presumably intend to keep on traveling southward and reach either Peru, Chile or Argentina.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Hitting the brakes After several days when some 5,000 Venezuelans wanted to cross from Colombia into Ecuador, Quito began demanding that Venezuelan nationals show valid passports to emigrate, rather than just an ID as was previously needed. This new regulation applies to adults. For children, proof of paternity and parental passports is enough to let them cross the border.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Chain reaction After Ecuador Peru followed suit, announcing it would implement the same regulation in the near future. Peruvian Interior Minister Mauro Medina said that about 80 percent of Venezuelan refugees arrive with valid passports, but many Venezuelan NGOs warn that passports have now become luxury items in the crisis-stricken country, requiring large sums of cash or high-level contacts to acquire one.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Tension in the air More than 100,000 Venezuelans have migrated to Brazil since 2016, most of them to the country's north. From there, roughly half them travel onward to Ecuador and Peru. The situation in northern Brazil is tense: The country's government has said it will redistribute Venezuelan immigrants to other regions. Critics have accused the government authorities of failing to support Brazil's border region.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Attacks and confrontations Last weekend, local residents in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima attacked makeshift camps housing Venezuelan refugees. They set their dwellings on fire and drove hundreds back across the border. Media reports say Brazilian police did nothing to stop the mob violence. The attack was said to be triggered by the robbery of a Brazilian businessman — a crime allegedly committed by refugees. Author: Jan D. Walter



Alvaro ended up in Ipiales with his wife and one daughter. The second daughter is still in Venezuela and has just had a baby. Alvaro's eyes become tearful again. "I'm going to go back in a month to meet my grandchild. Even if it's the last thing I do," he says, and then goes on to try and sell the remaining coffee before it gets cold.

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