Fending off the flood from Venezuela

EVERY morning crowds gather on the Venezuelan side of the Simón Bolívar bridge to cross over into Colombia. Many just want to shop for basic goods, which are scarce at home. But growing numbers are staying, at least until the political and economic crisis in their country passes. Colombian immigration officials counted 550,000 Venezuelans in the country at the end of last year. That is an increase of 210,000 from the middle of the year.

On February 8th Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, on a visit to the border town of Cúcuta, tried to stanch the flow. In a warehouse used by the disaster-relief arm of the government of Norte de Santander, Cúcuta’s province, he announced that Colombia would stop issuing one-day entry cards for Venezuelans and deploy 3,000 more guards along the countries’ 2,200km (1,400-mile) border. “Colombia has never before experienced a situation like this,” he said. On February 14th he said the country needs international help to cope with it.