The U.S. will allocate nearly US$348 million of additional help for Venezuela which was announced by the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, during his visit to Boa Vista, Brazil.
The money aims to address the most pressing needs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which has been plunged into a massive humanitarian crisis caused by the corrupt regime of Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela will also receive US$205 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development which means that the total amount of U.S. aid for this Latin American country provided since 2017, will exceed US$1.2 billion. The assistance is also in response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which has significantly worsened the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that about 7 million people in Venezuela are dependent on external aid and are in need of immediate assistance. The money allocated by the U.S. government will be channeled to support Venezuelans who still live in the country as well as those who decided to flee abroad, of which the UNOCHA estimates there to be about 5 million who fled mostly to Colombia, Peru, Chile, and other Latin American states. Washington wants to distribute the money to cover urgent needs such as providing food, water, sanitation, and medical supplies. The U.S. government also wishes to allocate money to fight infectious diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and diphtheria which is why it is planning to organize vaccination programs.
The decision regarding the additional financial assistance is a result of Mark Pompeo’s latest trip to Latin America when he visited Colombia, Suriname, Guyana, and Brazil. However, Venezuela was one of the main focus of the trip during which Pompeo stressed that Maduro had to leave.
Washington decided to give US$3 million in aid to help Guyana to support the 22,000 Venezuelans that this small country gave the refuge to. However, the country that is most affected by the Venezuelan refugee crisis is Colombia where about 1.8 million people fled. The number of Venezuelan refugees that Colombia hosts has worsened its economic crisis that began with the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of unemployment has reached almost 20%, one of the highest numbers in the world. Colombia is one of the most important allies in Latin America of the U.S.
The additional help announced by Pompeo also aims to alleviate the pressure on Bogota which for several years has been challenged by an increasing number of Venezuelan refugees.
Last week the United Nations issued a report based on visits by its investigators which confirmed that Nicolas Maduro’s regime had committed crimes against humanity. The UN concluded that the Venezuelan President and his innermost closest circle were responsible for extrajudicial killings and the systemic use of torture. Cases of torture and killings were found to have been regularly conducted by security forces who used techniques such as electric shocks, genital mutilation, and asphyxiation.
The 411-page report for the Human Rights Council presents a comprehensive insight into rights violations in Venezuela and was based on interviews with victims, relatives, witnesses, police, government officials, and judges, as well as videos, satellite imagery, and social media content.
Discover current funding opportunities for humanitarian aid and emergency projects in Venezuela on the DevelopmentAid platform.
