Colombia elections: Border town frets about Hugo Ch谩vez trade threats
| Maicao, Colombia
On the face of it, it is just another backwater dusty town in Colombia麓s north eastern frontier with Venezuela. But beyond the potholed main street, dotted with cactus plants and rubbish, lies a thriving market town.
Arab traders sell electronic goods such as TVs and refrigerators shipped in from Panama. Colombian merchants trade in clothes as well as jewelery with gold and precious stones. Native Way'霉u indians sit in doorways knitting traditional dresses for artesan shops.
Venezuelan leader Hugo Ch谩vez last month threatened to cut trade with Colombia if presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos wins Sunday's May 30 elections. If elected, Mr. Santos, Colombia麓s former defense minister under President Alvaro Uribe, had talked about chasing FARC over the border into Venezuela .
In Maicao, which lies just a 10-minute drive from Colombian麓s eastern frontier with Venezuela, residents worry about damage to business from the potential spat. The town depends on trade with its neighbor. A steady stream of Venezuelans flow over the border to buy clothes, food staples, and luxury goods such as TVs.
"It麓s very worrying," said one jewelery shop owner who declined to be named."This is a frontier town which depends on the trade from Venezuela." He does a good trade selling gold to Venezuelans, he says, an income he fears will be lost if President Ch谩vez restricts border crossings.
Luis Ramirez imports electronic goods sold to traders here and in Venezuela. He doesn麓t believe Chavez麓s threat to close the border between Colombia and Venezuela, an import dependent nation that relies heavily on food and other goods from Colombia. "They麓d die from hunger," he laughs.
Ch谩vez briefly closed the border with Colombia in 2009, and sent Venezuelan troops to the border in 2008 after Colombia raided a FARC rebel camp in Ecuador, an incursion he feared would be repeated in Venezuela.
Presidential candidate Santos is running neck and neck in the polls with rival Antanas Mockus, the Green Party candidate, a moderate leftist whom critics have likened to Ch谩vez. One man here says he fears Colombia will fall under the spell of Ch谩vez麓s Socialist ideology if Mr. Mockus wins.
"He麓s a leftist as well and he麓ll enter into dialogue with Ch谩vez," says Nelson Diaz, "he has the same politics and idealism of Ch谩vez and he麓ll let it enter here." The mathemician has dismissed any the likeness to Ch谩vez.
FARC guerrillas which once held sway over vast swathes of Colombia have been pushed to remote rural outposts by Mr. Uribe麓s military drive against the leftist rebels, gaining him huge popularity in Colombia.
Santos is seen as the heir apparent to take on the security mantle. The former defense minister spearheaded a 2008 rescue of 15 hostages including three Americans from FARC captivity.
Mockus is calling for dialogue with the FARC, if he steps into the presidential shoes. Critics say he lacks the tough edge of Santos to keep the guerrillas at bay.
The candidate, who is popular with youth groups for his pro-education policies, says his two tenures as 叠辞驳辞迟谩 mayor prepared him for the task.
"Santos had his successes, yes, but I too had success while mayor, deflecting terrorist attacks against the city and strengthening the police," he says during a recent campaign stop in nearby Riohacha, the La Guajira capital.
鈥淭he challenge 鈥� it's a labor and a calling that doesn't intimidate me,鈥� he adds.
Many rebels on the run from the military are holed-up along Venezuela麓s 2,200 kilometer porous frontier with Venezuela and sheltered by Ch谩vez, critics say. Ch谩vez denies the claims.
But one merchant who runs his jewelery business in Maicao from Miami, who fled Colombia after FARC guerrillas threatened to 鈥渒ill me or kidnap me,鈥� he says, is sure the leftist rebels are hiding just over the border.
"They have protection from the government of Venezuela. They help the FARC a lot and give them refuge," says Israel Hernando, by telephone from Miami.
For now, he hopes Venezuela and Colombia can resolve their differences for the sake of the folk in this frontier town who enjoy good relations with their neighbors. "We are brothers. We've always been there for each other."
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