every mornings, Marcelo Jesús Gouriyú, 13, and his nine-year-old brother, leave their home in the small Venezuelan town of Calié, in Zulia state, at 4:30 in the morning to go to school in Colombia.
The two boys walk alone in the dark for about two hours to arrive on time for their lessons, which start at 6:30am.
Every day at sunrise they enter Colombia through informal border crossings known as trails to get to their school. in the town of Paraguachón, in the Colombian department of La Guajira.
The trails in this region, located in the far north of Colombia, are dangerous rural dirt roads and are controlled by local armed groups, who often charge users a fee to pass.
In what could well be a sign of adolescent bravado, Marcelo denies being afraid to travel through these informal crossings.
“I like coming to school in Colombia,” he says, before adding that they can’t attend classes in their town because there aren’t any.
The precarious economic situation in Venezuela has meant that some rural schools in the country barely function and others have been abandoned.forcing Venezuelan children like Marcelo to risk crossing the border into Colombia.
40% of Venezuelan students
At Centro Educativo Indígena Número 6, the school Marcelo attends in Paraguachón, approximately 40% of the 1,270 students are Venezuelans who cross into neighboring Colombia for an education.
More than a third of these Venezuelan children use trails to make the journey.
And not everyone shares Marcelo’s courage. One of his classmates admits that the trails are “dangerous.”
“Sometimes I come to school and sometimes I don’t,” explains the boy, who is also 13 years old.
And you are right to worry. According to Bram Ebus, a consultant for the International Crisis Group, clashes to control these trails are not uncommon.
“In addition to extortion, criminal groups also use these trails to transport drugs and illegal gold, or to charge smugglers for using their border crossings.“Ebus explains.
Parents are well aware of the risks, but sending their children to school through the dangerous trails is often the only way many families living on the Venezuelan-Colombian border can ensure their children’s education.
Those who can accompany their children, but many parents have to stay to work to make ends meet in the precarious Venezuelan economy.
It is a dilemma that the mother of Marcelo’s classmate faces and for this reason she sometimes prefers him to stay at home.
“At the moment I am not coming much [a la escuela] because my mother doesn’t want to send me only along the trails”, the boy affirms.
Thanks to the fact that Colombia and Venezuela re-established their bilateral diplomatic relations in December of last year, the trails are no longer the only way to cross the border.
No official documents to cross the border
In January, the border was reopened for the first time in seven years, but for many locals, the formalization of diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela has so far not had much of an impact on their day-to-day lives.
Trails are often a more convenient alternative to taking long detours to use official border crossings, Ebus explains.
In addition, many Venezuelans lack the necessary papers to cross through the official points.
“Obtaining valid proof of identity has become increasingly difficult for many Venezuelans due to bureaucratic barriers, legal ambiguity and high costs,” Ebus explains.
About 200 of the students at Marcelo’s school still use the trails to get to class, according to estimates by school officials.
“Those who come from the trails, like our students, have no other option,” says the school’s director, Georgina Delúquez.
“How can I tell them no?”
Ebus notes that the Colombian and Venezuelan governments raised unrealistic hopes of a sudden improvement in the security situation along the border.
“Historically, border communities have been abandoned by the state. While opening the border is a necessary step, both governments must also address the historical situation of underdevelopment in remote border areas,” he argues.
Principal Georgina Deluquez says the influx of Venezuelan students has been a challenge for her school.
“Everything that happens in Venezuela has repercussions for us [en Colombia]. As long as Venezuela continues in crisis, children will continue to arrive and we do not have the capacity to care for them,” he affirms.
This month alone, the school has welcomed 11 new students, most of whom are Venezuelan.
But it’s a challenge Principal Deluquez is determined to meet.
“How can we abandon them? How can I say no, if it’s the only educational center on the border? If we don’t take them in, what’s left for those children?”
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-65368124, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-05-05 12:40:08
inigo alexander
Paraguachon, Colombia
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