Colombia's stranded refugees

By James Menendez
In Ureña, Venezuela

Urena is home to thousands of displaced people

Millions of people in Colombia are having to leave their homes because of fighting between the government, leftist guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries.

Many stay within Colombia, but a growing number are crossing the border into Venezuela.

Until recently, the Venezuelan Government didn't take the problem of refugees seriously.

That is beginning to change, but only slowly, leaving thousands of people living in dire conditions, unable to move away from the lawless border areas.

Places like Ureña.

It's a hot, dusty community just a few hundred metres from the border, home to about 6,000 people.

Most of these are Colombians fleeing violence and intimidation.

But even here they're not safe.

Armed groups regularly come across the border. In the past year at least 100 people have been killed.

Some by the guerrillas, others by the paramilitaries.

Extortion

Margarita came here after paramilitaries killed her two brothers. More than 20 other people in her village died that day.

That was three years ago, the last time she saw her husband and her parents.

She is still too scared to give her real name. Too scared that one day, the paramilitaries will come looking for her and her children.

"I never want to go back to Colombia," she says.

"I don't want to live where there's fighting, I want to live in peace, somewhere I can sleep soundly, somewhere I can be safe."

Armed groups are able to move about easily along the border

Margarita wants to move away, but she doesn't have the right papers. Instead, the family must stay here.

Living conditions in Ureña are grim. There's no running water or sanitation for the hundreds of makeshift shacks.

Instead, water is delivered by truck and stored in open, plastic drums. Diarrhoea and dengue fever are common.

Residents' representative Alirio Varela says: "Most people here are Colombian, but the local authority isn't interested in Colombians."

"They won't spend any money on places where are there are lots of foreigners, because there's nothing in it for them."

In other words, votes.

As well as a lack of basic services, there are no police in Ureña. Kidnappings, extortion and murder are common here and in many other areas close to Venezuela's border with Colombia, some 2,000 km long.

That length and the dense jungle terrain make it relatively easy for armed groups to move back and forth. And not just Colombian guerrillas and paramilitaries.

In El Nula, a small town further south along the border, there are reports that Venezuelans, too, are forming a paramilitary group.

It's known as the Bolivarian Liberation Forces, after Venezuela's independence hero, Simon Bolívar.

Low priority

The group's motive isn't clear. Some say it is to drive out the Colombian armed groups, others believe it is about securing a share of organised crime.

"People living in the areas where these groups operate are extremely worried that what's happening in Colombia will spill over into Venezuela," says Father Acacio Belandria, a Jesuit priest in El Nula.

"They're worried that if fighting breaks out, they'll be caught in the middle or forced to take sides. That's why everyone is so scared at the moment."

Especially Colombian refugees.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, says it wants to encourage as many people as possible to apply for asylum in Venezuela.

If successful, they'll receive documents and the chance to move away from the border and look for work. But so far, only 2,000 have come forward.

The shacks lack any kind of sanitation or running water

"The number of people who are actually claiming asylum is just the tip of the iceberg," says UNHCR spokesman William Spindler.

"Most people don't claim asylum because they're afraid of making themselves known.

"Because they fear deportation or they fear threats by the Colombian armed groups or maybe because, simply, they don't know about the procedures."

Those procedures are also new to Venezuela, particularly at a local level. The commission set up to decide asylum cases only started work in August.

Progress is also being hampered by Venezuela's ongoing political and economic crisis.

With President Hugo Chavez facing a possible referendum on his term in office, refugees are likely to be low on the government's list of priorities.