Women from a Wayuu community in Colombia. Photo by Lucas Rivera Jaimes / Twitter

Members of the Wayuu Tribe are adapting to a new way of life in their traditional territory in Venezuela and Colombia.

More than 600,000 Wayuu live in both countries, the Associated Press reported. They do not carry passports and are used to freely crossing the border.

The situation changed this week Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro closed a series of border crossings in the region. Though he vowed to respect the tribe's right to cross, the Wayuu say they have been forced to find new ways to travel in their own lands.

“We’ve been walking an hour along a trail and have had to pay several people to let us get this far,” Cecilia Apochana told the AP. “This is our land and there should not be a border, much less that it be closed.”

Tribal members are used to carrying goods across the border as part of a long tradition of trade. Maduro has characterized the activity as illegal smuggling and he has initiated a crackdown in the region.

“The Wayuu have always been merchants. Historically we traded with the Antilles and now we’ve changed what we bring back and forth across the border among our brothers,” Remedios Fajardo, a leader in the matriarchal Wayuu society, told the AP. “It’s not that we’ve transformed, we’re just adapting.”

According to The Herald, a Spanish-language newspaper in Venezuela, a tent has been set up in one location to ease crossings by tribal members. But another Wayuu woman leader said restrictions are being imposed on what they can carry back and forth.

Get the Story:
Desert tribe faces hardship as Venezuela fights smuggling (AP 9/9)
Venezuela extends Colombia border closure, sends 3,000 more troops (Reuters 9/9)
Cierre de la frontera por Paraguachón impacta a 400 mil wayúu (Efecto Cocuyo 9/9)
Comunidad wayuu ya puede pasar la frontera (El Heraldo 9/10)

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Wayuu Tribe upset with crackdown along border in Venezuela (9/9)
Venezuela dispatches troops to territory of 'feared' Wayuu Tribe (9/8)