Colombian shelters prepare for migrant influx as Venezuela reopens border

Venezuelan migrants line up to register at a migrant service point run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Chusaca, Colombia October 21, 2021. Picture taken October 21, 2021. REUTERS/Vannessa Jimenez

CHUSACA, Colombia (Reuters) - Shelters in Colombia are preparing for increasing numbers of impoverished migrants arriving on foot after Venezuela reopened its border with its Andean neighbor, many of them children in need of food, medical attention and the chance to play again, aid workers said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government said this month it was reopening https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-reopen-border-with-colombia-tuesday-official-says-2021-10-04 its side of the 2,219-km (1,379-mile) border with Colombia, which was closed in 2019 over political tensions.