The work that local organizations together with international organizations do for Venezuelan refugees in Ecuador was praised on Wednesday by the United States ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“Let me start by praising Ecuador’s leadership and hospitality as a host to hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees who had to flee the political and economic crisis in their countries of origin, including more than half a million Venezuelans,” the diplomat said in a press conference in Quito.
Thomas-Greenfield visited the San Juan de Dios refuge, in the Ecuadorian capital, and highlighted to the press that the US has provided 356 million dollars in humanitarian funds for efforts that cover both Venezuelan and Colombian refugees in the Andean nation.
The United States, said the ambassador, works together with UN entities such as the Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP), as well as the US Agency for International Development. (USAID).
The serious humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, exacerbated in the last five years by violence, the lack of food and basic services, has led Venezuelans to a historic mass departure from the country.
According to updated figures from UNHCR up to January of this year, around 7.1 million Venezuelans had requested refuge in different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, of which more than a million requested asylum in those nations.
“What I saw here today is so impressive, it should be an example to the rest of the world on how to treat vulnerable people, how to treat people in need, how to show compassion and how to show kindness,” Thomas-Greenfield thanked.
The US ambassador to the UN will close in Ecuador a trip of three through the region that has previously taken her to Costa Rica, where she participated as head of the US delegation at the second Summit for Democracy.
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