One Risky Birth Shows How Venezuela’s Diaspora Strains Its Neighbors

Days before her baby was due, Raquel Reyes began bleeding. The hospital in La Fria, Venezuela, lacked staff and incubators and sent the 18-year-old away. She tried Venezuela’s parallel Cuban-run medical service, founded when oil money was plentiful, but the building was abandoned and without electricity. “There wasn’t even one doctor,” she said. “Everything was dark, and at that moment there was a blackout, so we decided to go to Cucuta.” So began a trek to the Colombian border town to bear her first child. Afflicted by abdominal cramps and starting to panic, Reyes passed along dirt tracks controlled by armed gangs, then crossed a river in a small wooden boat, eventually reaching Cucuta and the maternity ward. More…