Venezuela's children flee the country's worsening crisis | Unreported World

we're on the edge of no-man's land where for millions of people smugglers tracks are the only way to escape Venezuela a Colombian Border Patrol has just arrived for that suggesting the soldiers here seem to have sent those people go [Music] I can actually see people walking back along the track they've obviously seen the soldiers here yeah don't [ __ ] is so in part of the Predators are alive in his Willa the Border Patrol are holding back a large group of refugees is it okay if we go and talk to those people are you hoping that will let you through in America locus Oh [ __ ] porque el otro día Alessandro Safina surrealism Moya what is the problem with your baby yeah nación este problema del R in Yahweh Allah Allah Allah say my body e @ ee @ e minor a propellor was she in the Children's Hospital in Caracas because I went there two years ago and there were real problems back there and it must be much worse now I watched children died in that hospital because of a shortage of basic supplies [Music] I think I think they're just gonna go and try and plead with the soldiers to let them through because the situation some of those at the front is really bad [Music] if R is ma doesn't get to help in Colombia her baby roof isn't going to make it we wait for 20 minutes [Music] then quietly the soldiers let them in they let you through there 16 years okay [Music] no I we haven't done anything [Music] you know here you made it see get access to her look for me look a math lab what are you going to do now maybe do see akali I even done the middle of the cell anemia may promote that she's been told the clinic there will help treats Baby Ruth it seems they've let everybody through now and it shows the madness that's going on here where the soldiers are told to stop people and then talk to let them through I think they can't cope with the scale of this and the humanitarian needs [Music] I head back into no-man's land to see how Venezuelans are crossing the border these tracks are controlled by one of Colombia's biggest drug cartels the Gulf Clan but these days they're one of the few ways people without official papers our guide works for the cartel he's taking us to meet a group of refugees they're bringing in over the border but were being watched closely by his men out of sight we start to meet people who've just made us across this is really come out with whatever you can carry because it's your only chance more than 2 million people have fled poverty hunger and medical shortages in Venezuela and almost half of those are children and young people under 18 many coming in on their own [Music] right now it is the largest migration in the world this is essentially what sits between Venezuela and Colombia and it really is the Wild West because the land by the side of this water is controlled by a combination of criminal gangs on the Colombian side and Venezuelan colectivos they are the the political thugs if you like who are now hand-in-hand with organized crime getting Goods and people across the river and outs of Venezuela and the crisis has torn many families apart hi how long has it taken you to come here the opportune moment the Quinta en la lucha Parrikar Akasaka he's just 17 traveling with his aunt Bernice he's only a few years older you know mommy agua and why are you leaving Venezuela tengo miedo coming ah yeah yeah he come in and Oh c'est bien doc hola como se poco poco each person prepared to risk this crossing has to hand over $30 to the cartel that's over a year's pay if you're on Venezuela's minimum wage but the boys know it could all lead to nothing if their guide can't get them out of here they're trying to find their way around because they've come up against the police Border Patrol at the moment and off mau'd may allah ya know say like a chicken okay now as you know pork will give cosas de uncle Howie Jo Elvises school friend even is also hoping to find his mother he's just a teenager too but already has a baby son he's had to leave behind in Caracas [Music] we trek for over an hour through no-man's land still with our guide finally the illegal track brings us out into the Colombian town of Phuket on a scramble under a door and they've made it what are you feeling una policía grounded okay Tammy me control Colo sentiment okay hammy seha pero tell Feliz cucit ah has become a staging post for thousands like them having spends all they had getting this far they're starving so we buy them lunch yes the difference between this and life in Venezuela is hitting them fast [Music] boy [Music] people really tell me about your life in Venezuela did you have a job what did you do [Music] you I'm Anthony me where you're coming to go see in a Braille yeah I know do you have any money in your pockets go see angel face 200 pixels so this is not five pence six cents in US dollars plus everything they've got between but they're going to need hundreds of dollars each for bus tickets to Chile and Peru determined to find work they hit the streets but East was a nurse in Venezuela but now any job will do [Music] I leave them as their search for work continues [Music] all along the border people are just pouring in just coming up onto the main road from these illegal tracts and boarding these cooperative buses they're called trying to get into town and as far away as they can amongst this tide of families escaping Venezuela are many children arriving on their own Jesus is 16 his friend Jefferson just 14 [Music] they say their parents couldn't afford to feed them anymore so they left school and came here alone oh I see no baby how much money you made yeah you said ben salomo maximum each time not enough to live so they Kentucky's toys we see the river overcome a man let me do is gonna throw it away now he was gonna be like me they came in search of a new life but they're making just enough to stay alive [Music] I'm meeting up with sixteen-year-old ulama she also came to Columbia looking for work [Music] her only link to friends and family is through Facebook when she has enough money to pay the internet cafe how do you feel when you look at these pictures do you think you're a child or an adult without papers to work legally you Lamar has struggled to find a job that night I arranged to see her again like many young Venezuelan girls here she started selling sex on the street prostitution is legal in Colombia but only if you're over 18 do the clients know that you're only 16 what you're doing is illegal so how do you avoid being in trouble with the police what was your dream coming to Colombia it's dangerous work but for now she feels it's all she can do to survive a few streets away Jesus and Jefferson are still trying to make a few pennies to each come with our yes your commentaries and interviewing a phenomenal phobia digital from on our arrival now and G speak to her sorry dude I mean never mind I [Music] just [Music] [Music] for Jesus and Jefferson it's hard to see what future there is when you see them trying to go to sleep on a hard road with just a little bit of cardboard as a bad they really do look like the little kids they are [Music] the streets in this town are full the Venezuelan families with nothing there's no help or shelter I've never seen this many people sleeping rough on the streets outside of a national disaster or a war zone and it's no wonder that people now believe that the migration of people from Venezuela into Colombia is the biggest mass movement of people since cereal these people are trapped many with young children trying to scrape enough to build a future [Music] I'm heading back to meet the boys and there aren't I'm s earlier at the border they've had some luck Joe Elvis Eva Sun and bunnies have found a place to sleep tonight a Venezuelan couple have taken them in how did you know each other Olivia accordion music that out but anything handled a mean will they be able to stay with you second second trabajo para que no ha you then I forgot a la tienda Ferguson Yan do I know a la casa es una casa por persona how did you think the boys will be able to make some money here it's okay your father or a keyboard telecoil on me Nelson's family arrived last year when it was easier to get a work permit do you have any ID cards did you realize all of this that it was gonna be quite hard when you get here see you see Clara draw that broke a double cap Atlanta right yeah okay Casserly island d'etre halakhah say avoid looking [Music] but they're already in debt to their new friends whose landlord will want pay [Music] if the moving the joke honks begins again so you're gonna take home but in a town full of illegal immigrants who will want to hire a couple of kids in there yeah yeah [Music] [Music] we head back to the house that evening but they have no money to pay the rent [Music] [Music] could you just explain to us what's happened see who's gonna get out I'm Beyonce Laura quick a key the one man didn't get by her put it on me this must be very difficult for you as well we don't open echo techno song anymore but I can save me you naughty little miss moon is a laughable merriment okay it's a really brutal situation I mean and not what at all what I was expecting I have to say they didn't make any money today they didn't get a job they've come back empty-handed and they've got to leave and it's gonna be dark quite soon I don't know where they're gonna go we'll see go yes II Salima [Music] they came here with no money and they have no way of making money because they don't have the legal paperwork and they are children and they just don't know what they're going to do and that was the question hanging over an EVC and Joe Elvis from the moment I met them how on earth are they going to survive and tonight they have no idea [Music] it is hard to understand why people would choose this to sleep rough living hand-to-mouth but every Venezuelan I met said they'd still rather be here than back home at least here there is hope [Music] thanks for watching click the logo to subscribe for more award-winning documentaries from the unreported world team we upload videos every Sunday keeping you up to date with content from all over the world

Channel: Unreported World

Views: 942,724

Keywords: Colombia, Venezuela, Crisis, Economic crisis, Latin America, South America, Nicolas Maduro, Chavez, Socialism, migrants, immigration, migrant crisis, mass migration, poverty, children, child, child migrant, economic crises, unreported world, unreported world new series, unreported world documentary, unreported world venezuela

Id: lDoy6yt4sFg

Length: 23min 45sec (1425 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 04 2018