Colombia has extended until January 16 the closure of its land and river borders, imposed since mid-March in order to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, the migration authority announced on Monday.
This extension does not extend to maritime traffic, again fully authorized from midnight, said the director of the migration service, Juan Francisco Espinosa, in a video sent to the media.
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The closure of land and river borders was decreed on March 16, ten days after the detection of the first case of the new coronavirus in the country.
According to Juan Francisco Espinosa, the government has decided to extend it to
“avoid and contain the spread”
of Covid-19.
"Cases considered as humanitarian emergency, the transport of freight and goods, as well as fortuitous cases or force majeure"
remain exempt, however, said the migration service in a statement.
"We call on the population not to put their lives in danger by entering the country illegally,"
added Juan Francisco Espinosa.
Colombia, the third country in Latin America by the number of Covid-19 cases (1,308,376) and fourth by the number of deaths (36,584), borders Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and from Venezuela.
It lifted the confinement imposed on March 25 on September 1, then reopened its air borders.
Since March, around 110,000 Venezuelans, out of 1.7 million present in Colombia, have returned to their country due to the deterioration of the economic situation following the pandemic.
The Colombian government expects a large part to return in the coming weeks, due to the political and economic crisis that the former oil power has been going through since 2015. Colombia and Venezuela share a border of some 2,200 km, comprising dozens of clandestine crossings, very busy despite the danger of armed groups and smugglers.