Arreaza Criticizes Colombia Asking for International Funds to Vaccinate Venezuelan Migrants
CARACAS (Sputnik) – Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza called Colombian President Iván Duque a “beggar” after he asked the international community for support to vaccinate Venezuelan migrants in that country.
“This man has not vaccinated the first Colombian, has denied the vaccination to migrants and is now asking for funds from the “International Community” to vaccinate Venezuelans. An expert at begging and incompetence,” Arreaza wrote in his Twitter account.
Este señor no ha vacunado al primer colombiano, le negó la vacuna a los migrantes y ahora pide dinero a la "Comunidad Internacional" para vacunar a l@s venezolan@s. Experto pedigüeño para la ineficiencia. Las UCI colapsadas, los tratamientos para el #Covid_19 escasos. Desastre! https://t.co/cXqS4QAnGJ
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) January 12, 2021
During an interview with the British agency Reuters, Duque urged the international community that is concerned about the situation in Venezuela to support him in the acquisition of vaccines, in order to be able to provide needed care for migrants without legal status in Colombia.
The Colombian president made these statements after declaring in December that his government will not vaccinate illegal migrants.
Duque justified his statement by claiming that authorities in his country do not know how many migrants are in Colombia illegally.
Arreaza stated that Colombia talks about vaccinating Venezuelan migrants while intensive care units in his country are collapsing and treatment for COVID-19 is scarce.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Colombia has registered 1,801,903 million cases of COVID-19 with 46,451 deaths. Meanwhile, Venezuela reports only 116,983 cases and 1,073 deaths.
Venezuelan authorities have, on the contrary, publicly expressed the fact that they do not differentiate between irregular migrants, regular migrants or Venezuelan citizens when providing proper health care—for free—to those affected by the pandemic. They have also stated that there won’t be any differential treatment when Venezuela begins mass vaccination, which is scheduled for March/April 2021.
Featured image: Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Arreaza criticized Colombia for begging for international funds to vaccinate Venezuelan migrants, while Venezuela intends to vaccinate migrants in Venezuela with its own resources in the middle of the US blockade.© AFP 2020 / Juan Barreto.
(Mundo Sputnik) with OT content.
Translation: OT/ JRE/OH
