In this sense, San Cristobal is a true Latin American city, unlike elite Merida or small-townish Valera. There is a state university in San Cristobal as well as a branch campus of Merida's Universidad de Los Andes, including a reportedly good journalism department. San Antonio is a business and commercial center literally on the border with Colombia. The international boundary is only about twelve blocks from the main plaza. The population is about 50,000.
Local traffic moves freely between the two cities.
In fact, in a morning visit to Cucuta, I walked across the busy international bridge without anyone even bothering me. San Antonio's border location has been the mainstay of its economy. In the past, Colombians would flock here to buy imported products which were cheaper in Venezuela due to lower tariffs. There has also been not a little smuggling of foreign goods into Colombia to avoid that country's higher tariffs. Presently, Venezuela's current economic hard-times and currency devaluations have made these all these transactions less profitable.