Although the international bridges of the Bolívar and Pedro María Ureña municipalities were reopened, the reactivation of the San Antonio carnivals are still not even a shadow of the famous “international carnivals”, which for decades were highly recognized and had the participation of numerous “comparsas” (groups), organizations and recognized singers from Colombia and other parts of the country.
By La Patilla
Feb 20, 2023
William Gómez, former Chavista Mayor of the Bolívar municipality, stressed that “it is false that the border is fully open, we still have limitations (in the schedule) through the binational crossings, which is only permitted from 6 in the morning to 9 at night and that is why the parades have started late. This affects Colombians who wish to come just for the day and are not coming, because they cannot cross back the border after 11 pm.”
He recalled that also in the carnivals years prior to the closure of the border, even participants from the Norte de Santander Department (Colombia) participated and performed completely free shows with singers of international stature, a situation that has changed today because for the election of the Queen of the 2023 carnivals, only one Colombian “vallenato” (typical Colombian popular music) singer will participate in a paid event, which will cost between 5 and 45 dollars.
Likewise, the former mayor, Ramón Vivas, noted that the Carnival Board has not been respected, which should be in charge of the organization but on this occasion this board will be made up of the same officials from the Chavista mayor’s office, who have politicized the event, “the People go to a carnival to have fun, not to have that little drop of political transformation put in their head,” he said.
Moreover, Indover Sayago, representative of the Hotelier Chamber on the Táchira border, states that there have been no Colombian tourists in the hotels on the Venezuelan border, he hopes that these carnivals are a first step to begin to recover the economy in the sector, since this would demonstrate that it is necessary to recover “the confidence of (Colombian) tourists, while the commercial showcase is activated to offer good products and offers.”
It should be noted that very few Colombians cross the Venezuelan border to consume, since the fear of Venezuelan security forces continues to be a barrier for tourists from the sister country to visit Venezuela.
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