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Photos: Valentine’s Day a rosy opportunity for unemployed Colombians

Valentine's Day on February 14 is one of the times of year Americans spend the most on gifts. That spells bonanza for Colombia, which is the source of 74 percent of US flower imports. Valentine's Day means huge demand for labor in greenhouses near Bogota and jobs for unemployment struck border regions.

Updated on: Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM IST

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A worker prepares roses for packing ahead of Valentine’s Day, at a plantation in Tabio, Colombia. Valentine’s Day is a crazy rush for Colombia and marks the year’s highlight for flower growers, who meet 74% of total demand each February 14. This season the flower farms’ recruitment focused on the border with Venezuela, expecting eager-to-work migrants, but instead their call was first answered by unemployed Cucuta locals. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

A worker prepares roses for packing ahead of Valentine’s Day, at a plantation in Tabio, Colombia. Valentine’s Day is a crazy rush for Colombia and marks the year’s highlight for flower growers, who meet 74% of total demand each February 14. This season the flower farms’ recruitment focused on the border with Venezuela, expecting eager-to-work migrants, but instead their call was first answered by unemployed Cucuta locals. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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Workers here see only the minimum wage -- $300 a month -- but for laborers coming from border regions, that’s far better than what’s back home. Although Colombia has a nationwide unemployment rate of 10%, joblessness in Cucuta reached 16% last year, worsening with Venezuelan migrants willing to work for half the rate asked by Colombians. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

Workers here see only the minimum wage -- $300 a month -- but for laborers coming from border regions, that’s far better than what’s back home. Although Colombia has a nationwide unemployment rate of 10%, joblessness in Cucuta reached 16% last year, worsening with Venezuelan migrants willing to work for half the rate asked by Colombians. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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The task involves taking cut roses and scrupulously maintaining the “cold chain” -- a supply chain that ensures the flowers are kept at very low temperatures in storage and transport so they still appear fresh when sold in shops. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

The task involves taking cut roses and scrupulously maintaining the “cold chain” -- a supply chain that ensures the flowers are kept at very low temperatures in storage and transport so they still appear fresh when sold in shops. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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For many like Rubiela Mendez, this stint was the first time they left home and families for work. Here they gather and package bouquets of a dozen roses in spaces refrigerated to 10 degrees Celcius, while listening to tropical music on the radio. Food is provided by the horticultural companies and bedding is in converted shipping containers. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

For many like Rubiela Mendez, this stint was the first time they left home and families for work. Here they gather and package bouquets of a dozen roses in spaces refrigerated to 10 degrees Celcius, while listening to tropical music on the radio. Food is provided by the horticultural companies and bedding is in converted shipping containers. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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A worker wraps rose into a bouquet. Despite the basic conditions it’s still better than in Cucuta where Mendez barely made ends meet by selling contraband jerrycans of cheap Venezuelan gasoline after losing a $7-a-day restaurant job. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

A worker wraps rose into a bouquet. Despite the basic conditions it’s still better than in Cucuta where Mendez barely made ends meet by selling contraband jerrycans of cheap Venezuelan gasoline after losing a $7-a-day restaurant job. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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A worker selects pink roses to be packed ahead of Valentine’s Day. Sunshine Bouquet, their employer, had sent recruiters to Cucuta thinking it could hire Venezuelan migrants willing to handle the roses. Instead it found a desperate Colombian work force. That’s how it came to be, in mid-January, that it transported in 600 people, 80% of them Colombians, to this production center. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

A worker selects pink roses to be packed ahead of Valentine’s Day. Sunshine Bouquet, their employer, had sent recruiters to Cucuta thinking it could hire Venezuelan migrants willing to handle the roses. Instead it found a desperate Colombian work force. That’s how it came to be, in mid-January, that it transported in 600 people, 80% of them Colombians, to this production center. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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A worker checks red roses for quality and defects. The outflow of people from Venezuela is reversing a trend that had once seen Colombians heading to their neighbour to escape a half-century conflict between the government and Marxist FARC rebels. Today, the FARC has disarmed and turned into a political party. And Venezuela has become prey to hyperinflation. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

A worker checks red roses for quality and defects. The outflow of people from Venezuela is reversing a trend that had once seen Colombians heading to their neighbour to escape a half-century conflict between the government and Marxist FARC rebels. Today, the FARC has disarmed and turned into a political party. And Venezuela has become prey to hyperinflation. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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According to Ivan Daniel Jaramillo, at a labour observatory in Bogota’s Del Rosario University, unemployment in Cucuta spiked “because it is a border zone receiving this migratory pressure.” The rose business in Tabio, as seasonal as it is, doesn’t represent a long-term solution for the laborers brought in. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

According to Ivan Daniel Jaramillo, at a labour observatory in Bogota’s Del Rosario University, unemployment in Cucuta spiked “because it is a border zone receiving this migratory pressure.” The rose business in Tabio, as seasonal as it is, doesn’t represent a long-term solution for the laborers brought in. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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A worker wraps and classifies roses ahead of their export to markets for Valentine’s Day. This work is only a temporary fix that has given workers some respite. Many hope to be taken on as full time employees by the company, which has promised to hire 20% after the Valentine’s Day rush is over, or to find some other opportunity in nearby Bogota. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

Updated on Feb 13, 2018 11:09 AM

A worker wraps and classifies roses ahead of their export to markets for Valentine’s Day. This work is only a temporary fix that has given workers some respite. Many hope to be taken on as full time employees by the company, which has promised to hire 20% after the Valentine’s Day rush is over, or to find some other opportunity in nearby Bogota. (Luis Acosta / AFP)

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