Venezuelan Refugees Strain Colombian Border Towns

“You can’t find food there,” she said, holding her five-month-old baby, who was born in a Colombian hospital. “We had to eat arepas – corn cakes – for a whole month because we couldn’t afford anything else.” Food scarcity, hyperinflation and political instability are forcing Venezuelans to leave their country for neighboring Colombia and Brazil, where they settle in precarious conditions. Precise numbers on Venezuelans living in Colombia or Brazil are hard to come by as many are moving across the border without visas. But academic studies and government figures suggest there could be hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who have sought refuge across the country’s borders.  More…