Venezuelan migrants who decided to return to their country from Chile, Peru and Ecuador experienced an ordeal when they arrived this Thursday afternoon and evening at the Rumichaca international bridge and found out that they cannot continue into Colombia by this route.
A landslide that occurred last Monday on the Pan-American highway, near Rosas, in the Nariño-Cauca section, 343 km from the border, keeps this road that connects with the interior of Colombia closed.
Travelers delay their itineraries due to the closure of the highway that connects Colombia with Ecuador
Heartbroken, foreigners traveling with relatives and austere budgets with which they planned to reach Cúcuta, on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, experienced moments of anxiety.
“They charged us $100 per person from Rumichaca to Cúcuta, now they tell us that we must leave through the San Miguel international bridge, in Lago Agrio, since bus frequencies in Ipiales are suspended due to the landslide,” said José Blanco, a native of Barquisimeto.
One of the fears felt by more than 150 travelers stuck in Rumichaca, who mobilized from Huaquillas, was that the informal operators in charge of mobilizing them would leave them abandoned and not return the money they had given.
After several hours of staying out in the open, in a park attached to the binational viaduct, in Ecuadorian territory, the Venezuelan brokers who operate in supposed tourist offices inside the bus terminal appeared to talk and offer them a solution.
Jhon Lugo, born in Caracas, and who came from Lima, would have been asked for more money, since the trip had a longer route and the transfer time was going to double another twelve hours.
After the landslide, travelers and migrants who regularly use the Huaquillas-Tulcán frequency have to change in Quito and take the buses that go directly to Lago Agrio.
The Colombian authorities have confirmed that the construction of a bypass could take between four and six months, and ratified that the road was erased and the damage is of great proportions, even destroying more than fifty houses in the sector.
Problems due to shortages in Colombian border cities
The presence of three pumps in Tulcán that serve a fleet of more than 25,000 cars is beginning to be insufficient in the sale of gasoline and diesel, even more so when the national government authorized the sale of supermarkets to Colombian license plate vehicles.
In the local stations, even in those of the neighboring cities of Julio Andrade and San Pedro de Huaca, the immense queues of automobiles fighting for access to extra gasoline are evident.
The shortage of gasoline and diesel in Ipiales, Pasto and more than 50 Colombian border towns triggered the smuggling of Ecuadorian fuels, which in those locations reaches a value of more than $5 per gallon.
Faced with the situation in southern Colombia and with the purpose of regulating sales in Tulcán, the stations are militarized and there is a restriction on the sale of private cars that can only charge $15 per day; on the other hand, the public service has no limitations and has been assigned an exclusive supplier.
During the first day of super gasoline sales, 1,200 gallons were sold at one of the Tulcán stations assigned to Colombian drivers, said Yaco Martínez, governor of Carchi.
Carchi, Manabí and Guayas, the provinces with the most earthquakes and aftershocks in this 2022
As there is a restriction on the sale of fuels in the border towns of Ecuador, the Carchi Governorate is asking the Ministry of Energy to extend opening hours, increase quotas and authorize sales from 06:00 to 24:00 .
Meanwhile, in international cargo transportation, which will return to normal dynamics next week, after the holiday season in Colombia is over, there is concern because the bridge over the San Miguel River is open to vehicular traffic from 07:00 to 18: 00 and ask to increase the opening hours of the pipeline. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
