Surviving on the Underground Railroad to Colombia
We wake up on the streets of La Laguna after a frigid night. Our group has been walking and hitchhiking from the Venezuelan border for six days. Moisés, 18, is hungry and wants to buy some food for the long road ahead.
“I have 500 pesos (about 20 cents USD),” he says and looks at the rest of the group. They return blank stares.
Moisés pulls a bag of plastic jewelry from his backpack and passes them out to the group.”It’s okay,” he says. “We can sell these necklaces.”
Everyone disperses into the streets offering their cheap accessories to passersby, in an attempt to earn breakfast.
I joined them at the border and walked 672 kilometers, climbing 3,500 meters over eight days, on our way to Bogota. These young Venezuelans, most with little more than backpacks and blankets, are a few of the thousands fleeing daily from a crumbling country. It’s the biggest mass-migration in South American history, with 3.7 million people fleeing since 2015.
Welcome and carry on
An underground economy has evolved along the main immigration route to Bogota and beyond, with an informal network of shelters and kitchens appearing to provide for the thousands entering Colombia on foot daily: maps, vaccines, food, water, basic medical attention and…
