AlQa'dah 11, 1436, August 26, 2015, SPA -- Dozens of Colombians began fleeing their homes in Venezuela on Tuesday, wading knee-deep through a river separating the two countries, as President Nicolas Maduro vowed to extend a crackdown on illegal migrants living along the border, AP reported. The Colombians said they chose to abandon their modest, cinder block homes in a shantytown known as "La Invasion," amid concerns for their safety and wellbeing if they opted to stay. With pedestrian bridges between the two countries destroyed as a result of a week-long security offensive along the border, police from Colombia helped residents ford the 10-meter wide Tachira River with mattresses, TVs and kitchen appliances in tow. The dramatic scene comes as tensions between the South American countries spiked to their highest level in years after Maduro closed a major border crossing last week and declared a state of emergency in several western cities. The socialist leader said he was acting to defend communities along the border after gunmen he said were aligned with former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe shot and wounded three army officers on an anti-smuggling patrol. In a press conference on Monday, Maduro said the normally busy Simon Bolivar international bridge would remain closed, and restrictions would possibly be extended to other transit crossings, until Colombian authorities do their part to bring order to the porous, 1,400-mile (2,200 kilometer) border.
