A woman holding a child in the flyer prepared by the organizers of the "solidarity" forum with Venezuelan migrants. Photo: UN International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The White House has approved $171 million for a new “humanitarian aid” and development package for Venezuelan migrats, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced during the Solidarity Conference with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants held in Brussels on Friday, March 17.
The US official began her speech with the information that last year, for the first time, the number of forcibly displaced persons in the world exceeded 100 million. She then put Venezuela at the center of the discourse by repeating the worn-out script: “More than 7 million people have been forced to flee Venezuela.”
According to the statement of the United States mission at the UN, this new package will help to provide food, healthcare, emergency shelter, and access to legal and protection services to Venezuelan migrants. It also praises Ecuador for its leadership in the International Funding Action Package Committee for the Los Angeles Declaration.
Venezuela Rejects New Attempt to Politicize Migration (+Communiqué)
However, many Venezuelan migrants as well as the government of Venezuela have wondered where this international “help” really goes to and how it is used.
This year, the “aid” has been allocated in the first quarter of the year. In 2022, the resources were approved in September, and the amount was $140 million, with $31 million going to development “aid” to “respond to the needs of Venezuelan refugees and migrants.”
Last year’s aid included more than $56 million through the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and $115 million through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Currently, the US and its “allies” continue to push the narrative that there is a migratory crisis in Venezuela and every day thousands of Venezuelans “are fleeing” the country. The fact that said aid is announced at this time leaves a long period to continue promoting maneuvers of this type throughout the rest of 2023.
#EnVivo🎥| Intervención del Canciller @AlvaroLeyva en la Conferencia internacional en solidaridad con los refugiados y migrantes venezolanos y sus países y comunidades de acogida’. https://t.co/sM0KIADBxY
— Cancillería Colombia (@CancilleriaCol) March 17, 2023
Colombia changes stance on Venezuelan migration
Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Peace Álvaro Leyva, in his online participation at the event, criticized the forum for having been convened without any Venezuelan representative. “This is a unilateral policy of enemies of Venezuela to interfere in migration,” said Leyva.
The Colombian foreign minister denounced the politicization of Venezuelan migrants and the manipulation of migration-related data. “Some figures are being altered,” he said. “One of the things that we have discussed with the Venezuelan president [Nicolás Maduro] is that a real census must be carried out, where not only Venezuela participates but also all the countries that want it.”
(Misión Verdad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
