COLOMBIA: An Implosion In Venezuela Would Affect The Peace Process - Santos

(RTTNews) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos expressed concern about the situation in Venezuela amid fears that an "implosion" in the neighboring country could affect the peace process involving the Colombian government and former guerrilla groups.

"If there is an implosion in Venezuela, it is not that we are going to receive a half a million people, which is what we have already received. It would be millions, and that will be a tremendous problem for the peace process and Colombia as a whole," Santos warned in remarks prepared for the Chatham House's annual prize on international affairs ceremony in London.

"We are receiving people from Venezuela every day who are looking for a better life. That situation is creating a quite dramatic burden in our education system, in our health system. We want to be generous, we do not want to close our borders, and in a certain way we have to adapt to this situation that unfortunately is getting worse," he said.

The Colombian government decided in July to regularize the situation of more than 150,000 Venezuelans who did not have a visa.