Carbondale helps 80 Venezuelan migrants sleeping below a bridge

They were police officers, cooks and farmers before they fled political instability and violence in their home country, hoping to start over in the United States. 

Now, as fall slips toward winter in the Colorado mountains, the group of about 80 Venezuelans has been sheltering in tents and cars near a bridge over the Roaring Fork River in Carbondale.

Most of the migrants arrived in Denver over the past few months on buses from the Texas-Mexico border, then, based on word of mouth, bought cheap vehicles or found rides to Carbondale because they heard there was better-paying work in the mountains. The group that began gathering this summer has since grown to 80 people, with about 25 vehicles that have been parked under Colorado 133 near a boat ramp and beside trees losing…