The governor of the Antioquia province said Tuesday he has asked Colombia’s national government to close the border with Ecuador to curb a growing humanitarian crisis at the closed border with Panama.
Colombia’s neighbor to the north decided to close the joint border and increase border control in May amid an unmanageable number of migrants who were using the country as a hub on their way to the United States.
However, since then migrants have been getting stuck in Turbo, a Caribbean port town only miles from the Panamanian border.
The number of stranded migrants has since reportedly grown to as much as 4,000, almost a tenth of the town’s entire population.
Governor Luis Perez said he had written President Juan Manuel Santos to request the border closing to curb the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the port town.
According to Perez, the border with Ecuador is “an open border where you one crosses freely without any type of documentation or control.”
As a consequence, migrants who previously would find their way to the United States through Ecuador, Colombia and Panama, but are now stuck in Colombia would become the problem of Ecuador.
