At Venezuela's Bolivar bridge, refugees begin an arduous journey

The first people to flee Venezuela belonged to the upper class. They left the country by plane, headed for the US and Europe. Next the middle class fled by bus to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Now poorer Venezuelans are fleeing, often on foot. The small Red Cross station on highway 55 in Los Patios, just a few kilometers walk from the Simon Bolivar bridge, is open 24 hours a day. Wearing sandals, some refugees plan to continue on foot to Bucaramanga, says Red Cross worker Edwin Alfredo — almost 200 kilometers (125 miles), a distance that can be covered in less than five hours by car but takes 47 hours walking, not counting breaks. In addition, the refugees carry heavy supplies, as well as young children. The biggest challenge is the climb to the Paramo plateau, at a height of more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). "People have died because they completely underestimated the journey and didn't bring any warm clothes," Alfredo says. More…