123,000 Venezuelans Cross Into Colombia to Hunt for Food and Medicine

Venezuelans cross the Simon Bolivar bridge linking San Antonio del Tachira, in Venezuela with Cucuta, Colombia, to buy basic supplies on July 16, 2016. Thousands of Venezuelans crossed into the Colombian city of Cucuta to buy food and medicine, taking advantage of another brief opening in the border that's been closed nearly a year. Caracas authorized the temporary opening a week after some 35,000 Venezuelans poured across the border during a 12-hour opening of the pedestrian bridge. George Castellanos/AFP/Getty Images

SAN ANTONIO DEL TACHIRA, Venezuela  — More than 100,000 Venezuelans, some of whom drove through the night in caravans, crossed into Colombia over the weekend to hunt for food and medicine that are in short supply at home.

It was the second weekend in a row that Venezuela’s socialist government opened the long-closed border with Colombia, and by 6 a.m. Sunday, a line of would-be shoppers snaked through the entire town of San Antonio del Tachira. Some had traveled in chartered buses from cities 10 hours away.

A Venezuelan woman walks by a Colombian policeman as she crosses into Colombia through the Simon Bolivar bridge linking San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, with Cucuta, Colombia, to buy supplies, Sunday, July 17, 2016. Tens of thousands of Venezuelans crossed the border into Colombia on Sunday to hunt for food and medicine that are in short supply at home. It's the second weekend in a row that Venezuela's government has opened the long-closed border connecting Venezuela to Colombia. AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos