‘Everyone wants to go back home’: Inside Catatumbo’s displacement crisis

Situated on the border with Venezuela, Cucuta is now a temporary home to 27, 000 of the people displaced in the current spate of violence.

The General Santander Stadium has been designated as a humanitarian aid facility in response to the conflict, where displaced people can receive food, clothing, and basic medical care.

Lines of people line up outside the stadium as they wait for assistance, some leaning against the metal bars that line the perimeter. The mood is tense.

“Right now they are still fighting, removing people, going house to house”, a 21-year-old man from Tibu told Al Jazeera, his youthful face peering out from a curtain of dark hair.

In the midday sun, his teeth’ braces flashed. “They’ve already killed many of our friends”.

The General Santander Stadium in Cucuta, Colombia, has been offering humanitarian services to those displaced from Catatumbo]Euan Wallace/Al Jazeera]

Cucuta’s local government and nonprofits are already dealing with the strain of the crisis.

“We haven’t seen this kind of displacement before”, said Fernando Sandoval Sanchez, the director of the Colombian Civil Defense, a disaster-relief agency, for the department of Norte de Santander. “So many people taken from their homes, from their land, from their belongings”.

According to the mayor’s office, 1, 330 people are staying in local hotels while 1, 280 are currently staying in a shelter close to Cucuta, according to the mayor’s office, which is a pricey short-term solution funded by the city’s government.

Many more are left to find housing on their own, with little assistance from outside of their means of funding. Some stay with family. Others have considered returning to Catatumbo.

A few hotels have risen their prices in response to the rising demand, profiting from the crisis.

Lusestella Maldonado, a volunteer for the mayor’s office and member of the team coordinating the humanitarian response at the stadium, claims that “the budget is already running out.”

“Obviously we don’t have many resources, and every day we see more and more displacement. The problem is growing”.

Edgar Larga — member of the Defensa Civil Colombiana, dressed in an orange uniform and helmet — takes the blood pressure of a recently arrived woman from Catatumbo. — Edgar Larga, member of the Defensa Civil Colombiana, takes the blood pressure of a recently displaced woman from Catatumbo]Euan Wallace/Al Jazeera]

The region’s economy has also been impacted by the exodus from Catatumbo, which is largely rural.

Catatumbo’s farmers have been forced to leave their crops and livestock, creating food shortages. That has made locals seek out assistance, putting strain on local charities and government organizations even more.

The displacement of Catatumbo’s population is a growing concern because of the increasing demand for humanitarian aid.