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The UN announced Tuesday (4) its intention to raise $ 738 million to allocate, next year, countries of South America and the Caribbean that have received Venezuelans.
It is the first time that the crisis in Venezuela is included in the annual humanitarian plan of the United Nations. The total budget for 2019 is estimated at $ 21.9 billion, excluding resources for Syria.
"We intend to help neighboring Venezuela to cope with the consequences of the flow of Venezuelans who seek them," said Mark Lowbad, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. in Geneva, during the presentation of the global humanitarian plan for 2019.
The serious economic crisis affecting Venezuela, marked by the shortage of foodstuffs, medicines and other basic products, has caused 39, the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans. The United Nations estimates that 3 million people have left the country since 2015.
Latin America is the region that has received the most migrants, 2.4 million people. Of these, more than one million went to Colombia, 500,000 to Peru, 220,000 to Ecuador, 130,000 to Argentina, 100,000 to Chile, 94,000 to Panama and 85,000 to Brazil.
According to a United Nations report, it is estimated that by 2019, 3.6 million Venezuelans who have left or will leave the country will need badistance and protection, with no predictable return to short and medium term.
Lowbad said that virtually all South American and several Caribbean countries would receive resources commensurate with the number of refugees they accommodated.
The UN said it would strengthen aid to Venezuela in the areas of health and nutrition and could broaden this proposal if local authorities had the political will to do so. At the end of November, the United Nations approved the allocation of $ 9.2 million in humanitarian aid to the country.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denied the crisis and refused to receive emergency badistance. In recent months, the UN has witnessed an increased vulnerability of refugees, most of whom have traveled thousands of kilometers for several weeks, crossing several countries to reach their destination.
The United Nations predicts that the flow of migrants and refugees to other countries in the region will continue over the next year. "This will have an impact on the absorption capacity of local communities," he concluded in a report on the situation in Venezuela.
Under the name of "Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan", the humanitarian operation will be led by the World Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR).
In addition to the lack of food and medicine, Venezuela is facing hyperinflation. With an oil-dependent economy, the country has suffered from the overall decline in the price of this resource, which has added to poor financial and political management.
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