Colombia prepares for refugee influx after US strikes on Venezuela

Cucuta, Colombia — Colombia is bracing for a potential refugee crisis following US strikes in Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday.

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Sunday that he was sending 30,000 soldiers to the border with Venezuela to shore up security, and the country has also enacted emergency measures to support refugees.

At the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, which spans the Tachira River separating Colombia and Venezuela near the border city of Cucuta, vehicle and foot traffic flowed normally on Monday despite an increased military presence, which included three parked Colombian M1117 armoured security vehicles.

But with United States President Donald Trump threatening more attacks if newly sworn-in interim leader Delcy Rodriguez does not “behave”, an uneasy calm has settled over the border region, and Colombia is preparing for the worst.

Sanchez said security forces had been “activated” to prevent any retaliation from armed groups, including the National Liberation Army (ELN) and Segunda Marquetalia, or Second Marquetalia — a dissident faction of the leftist group FARC, that have operated with virtual impunity in Venezuela for years.

Colombia’s armed groups have historically taken advantage of the rugged 1,367-mile (2,200km) border with Venezuela to traffic drugs and seek refuge from the Colombian army. With Maduro’s ouster, Colombian intelligence has signalled the possible return of armed group leaders as their security in Venezuela could be jeopardised.

A Venezuelan National Guard member stands guard on the Venezuelan side of the Simon Bolivar International Bridge [Jim Glade/Al Jazeera]

Meanwhile, the Colombian government has set up five emergency command posts in cities near the border to deal with an expected increase in refugees following the US attacks on Venezuela.

“These [command posts] allow us to permanently coordinate humanitarian, security and territorial control actions, with direct state presence in the most sensitive areas,” said Sanchez.

President Gustavo Petro also dispatched Minister of Equality and Equity Juan Carlos Florian to Cucuta to address humanitarian concerns for refugees.

“We’ve implemented something that we call a ‘border plan’,” Florian told Al Jazeera during an interview on Monday in Cucuta. The plan coordinates various elements of the national government in “the case of a possible migratory crisis due to the United States military intervention in our brother country, Venezuela”.

The minister said he met local officials to take stock of available resources for refugees, including food and healthcare supplies, to better understand areas where officials lack reserves.

With support from the United Nations International Organization for Migration, the minister said, the government is also activating 17 ​​centres across the country tasked with helping immigrants and refugees with food supplies, access to education, training and employment, violence prevention, and more.

Although there has been no uptick in border crossings yet, the minister said, the Colombian government expects that up to 1.7 million people could arrive in the country. Colombia is already home to three million Venezuelan refugees — the single largest chunk of the eight million Venezuelans who have left the country.

Humanitarian organisations, too, are preparing for a possible influx of refugees.

Juan Carlos Torres, director of disaster risk management for the Colombian Red Cross in Northern Santander, of which Cucuta is the capital, told Al Jazeera that the nonprofit has activated an emergency response plan in anticipation of a possible refugee crisis.

Using an initial 88,000 Swiss francs (about $111,000) from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the organisation is boosting its immediate capacity to provide basic humanitarian aid to refugees near the border.

La Margarita outpost for Colombia Red Cross near the border with Venezuela [Jim Glade/Al Jazeera]

“Yesterday we were at the [Simon Bolivar Bridge] doing preventative measures; ambulance services, transport, protection, what the human beings need,” said Torres. “Right now the situation is ‘normal’ but over the course of days”, things could change, he suggested.

If conditions stabilise in Venezuela, refugees might be willing to return to the country, he said. But if they do not, more people might want to leave Venezuela, Torres said.

Walking arm in arm with a friend, 50-year-old Mary Esperaza crossed into Colombia from Venezuela over the Simon Bolivar Bridge on Monday afternoon. Rodriguez, who is from Cucuta but lives across the river in Venezuela, said she was not sure if there would be another migration crisis soon.

“We’re waiting to see what happens,” she said. “Apparently, everything is calm, but we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”