QUITO, Ecuador—The leaders of Colombia and Venezuela traveled to Ecuador on Monday in a bid to ease tension that has paralyzed trade and movement along the border.
The crisis began when President Nicolas Maduro deported some 1,500 Colombians migrants he blamed for the smuggling that has helped empty Venezuelan supermarket shelves. Another 16,000 Colombians, some of whom have lived in Venezuela for years, fled voluntarily, fearing reprisals from Venezuelan troops who were seen bulldozing homes and forcing residents to flee across a river separating the two countries with their belongings slung across their backs.
Although the deportation and mass exodus of Colombians have ceased, Maduro and his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, have only sharpened their attacks, with communities on both sides of the border suffering from the closure of all land crossings along a border five times the size of the one separating France and Germany.
