On foot, Venezuela's poor seek better lives across South America

During his two-week trek through the bitterly cold Andean mountains, penniless Venezuelan Jesus Mendoza has eaten better than he has for months in his impoverished homeland. "In Venezuela, I'd eat two meals a day if I was lucky," said the 25-year-old migrant, walking along the Pan-American Highway with a tattered backpack. He had illegally crossed an unguarded border into Ecuador from Colombia."Along the way, Colombians have been generous. They have given us food and water," the carpenter told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "I've even been eating chicken, which is a luxury back home." More…