The Venezuela Ordeal

I left Chile by plane with the idea that I would go to Venezuela. I landed in Bogota, Colombia and caught a connecting flight to the border city of Cucuta. From there, I had big plans to go by road to Merida and all around the country. Little did I know what Venezuela had in store...

It was all wrong, right from the start.

First, there were bug bites on eyelids in the morning. Then as i'm walking to the border I roll and sprain my ankle hard and get two cuts in my hand. Then the line at the Colombian side to get stamped out is incredibly long. To even find the office where I had to get my Venezuela entry stamp was a nightmare. It took forever walking around with my packs. Then I had to wait for about an hour and half for a bus that should be coming every 10 minutes that was going to the next city I wanted to go to. I ended up taking a taxi anyways. Just outside of the Venezuela border town of San Antonio there is a military checkpoint. But it still took about 30 minutes to move 300m and get up to the military checkpoint.

So I literally had just got into the country, got my stamp, got into the taxi and then got assaulted.

Military checkpoints are not uncommon in south america but usually the Canadian passport is a golden ticket and they leave you alone. This time however, it seemed like this gave them a license to perform unlawful searches and intimidation. This military guy took my passport, told me to take my bags out of the taxi and go inside the checkpoint shack. He didn't give me back my passport but gave it to some young kid who was dressed as military as well. They made me open and pull out all the stuff from my bag. The kid tried to open the various gadgets and electronics looking for God knows what. Then he put me in a back room with no cameras or nothing and told me to empty my pockets. He proceeded to count all the money in my wallet and asked several times how many US dollars I had then finally let me leave with my passport.

I later read stories online about the military or police doing this nonsense. They flat out steal all people's US dollars. They make up stories bogus charges against people and keep their passports and put them in jail. They are just corrupt to the core. When I reached my destination of San Cristobal I had decided that I was going right back to Colombia. I wanted to get there as fast as possible. But my ankle had swollen to about three times its normal size and I needed to rest. I booked a hotel where I iced it and rested it for two days. I barely left the hotel because they had a restaurant too.

I met a lawyer who told me in Spanish that what they did was flat out illegal and they shouldn't have done it. He was deeply ashamed of them and tried to convince me to stay and see the rest of his country, but my mind was made up. He said that next time, it's better to fly around the country rather than take buses. There are no military checkpoints at the airports. He also gave me his card and said that if I got hassled again to tell the guard that I need to call my lawyer. He was so nice and had nothing to gain.

On my way out of Venezuela I took a shared taxi. I thought maybe because I was in a private taxi it made me a target. On our way out of the country a State policeman stopped us and demanded IDs. He was yelling at everyone going by to stop on bikes and trucks. He looked at my passport and pointed at my entry stamp and did a throat slash sign. I have no idea what he was trying to convey, because I had definitely not overstayed my time. The taxi man argued on my behalf and he let me go as well.

These guys just want a payoff. That's all they are looking for when they pull this nonsense. It's not a nice way to be introduced to such a beautiful country. I was really disappointed I didn't get to see Venezuela, but for my own safety, I had to leave. There was a landslide that closed the road for about an hour while they cleaned it up on the way out. AND the regular way was closed so we had to take an alternate route. We got past the military checkpoint where I was first assaulted and finally made it across the border into sweet, safe haven Colombia.

I was glad to be back. It feels like a second home. Viva Colombia!!!