About 500 Venezuelan women in search of food have broken through border controls separating the western state of Tachira from neighbouring Colombia. The women said their families were going hungry because of severe food shortages in Venezuela. Hours later, they crossed back into Venezuela carrying basic goods and singing the Venezuelan anthem.
Venezuela is going through an economic crisis and many Venezuelans say they struggle to feed their families. The women said they had organised to meet at the border via the instant messaging service WhatsApp. Dressed in white, they gathered on the bridge linking the cities of Urena (I-RAY-NEE-YA) in Venezuela and Cucuta in Colombia.
Hundreds of them pushed past the Venezuelan National Guard and walked across the border, which has been closed for almost a year. One of the women told Colombian media: “We’re desperate, we have nothing: no cooking oil, no sugar, no rice.” Venezuela closed large parts of its border with Colombia in August 2015 to prevent subsidised good from being smuggled from Venezuela into Colombia.
