500 women in San Cristóbal, Venezuela, pushed across the bridge into Cúcuta (Colombia) because they couldn't buy any food in San Cristóbal.

When I went from Colombia to Venezuela that way, in July 2014, people simply walked across the bridge in either direction, with no passport control. I was required to go to an office a few blocks away from the bridge for some official formalities, perhaps because I was a US citizen and was going to travel further in Venezuela.

At the time, I heard that there was a lot of smuggling. Goods, including gasoline, were subsidized in Venezuela, so people bought them there and sold them in Colombia at the market price.

There were already some shortages in Venezuala, but they were only for a few goods, and there were usually substitutes. For instance, you couldn't find penne but you could find spaghetti. Now the shortages have become a serious problem.

President Maduro is doing a lousy job on the economy, and increasingly infringes the human rights of the opposition. I support replacing him.