Though the food hall remains, those returning through Necocli are finding a town whose capacity for humanitarian care has been significantly reduced.
Local advocates credit the shift to a decline in foreign aid from the US, as well as the perception of reduced need as migration northward slows.
“Most of the NGOs here have closed,” Pastor Ballesta Mendoza said. “Before, there were 17 entities working here. Now, there are only seven.”
He fears the lack of funding could force his food hall — the only one still open on weekdays — to close down as early as August.
“Very little support remains,” said Sister Maria Elena Osorio Henao, 59, who for the last 18 months has been working with the nonprofit Fundacion Diocesana Compartir, handing out supply bags to arriving migrants. “The only one handing out kits is me.”
She believes that the town needs more humanitarian funding in order to meet the growing needs of return migration.
“They arrive hungry and cold. They are living in the street without sufficient clothing,” she said. “One food hall that provides a lunch and nothing more is not enough.”
Few have felt the lack of shelter more acutely than Venezuelan couple Marisela Bellorin, 47, and her partner Yeral Banegas, 48.
Six months ago, they arrived in Necocli with the intention of crossing the Darien Gap and heading northwards.
“We first came chasing the so-called American dream,” said Bellorin.
But the couple did not have the $1,000 needed to fund their journey. Since then, they have been homeless in Necocli with their two children, 8 and 11.