By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
European Union announced will provide further humanitarian assistance to help the Venezuelan people. The Union support includes the provision of emergency healthcare, access to safe water and sanitation as well as to education. It will further address the population's protection, shelter, food and nutritional needs.
“As many people continue to suffer from the severe socio-economic crisis in Venezuela, the Commission has allocated today additional humanitarian assistance of €5 million ($5,708,250 ) to help those most in need. This is in addition to the humanitarian assistance totaling €34 ($39,957,750 ) million for the crisis in 2018 alone,” said the organization statement.
According to Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, “Helping the Venezuelan people in need is a priority for the European Union. We are stepping up our emergency aid to help the most vulnerable who lack access to food, medicines and basic services and those who have been forced to leave their homes. We will also continue to support Venezuelans and host communities in neighboring countries.”
To help facilitate humanitarian assistance to partners on the ground, the European Union intends to open a humanitarian office in Caracas.
Commissioner Christos Stylianides visited Colombia in March last year and travelled to the eastern border with Venezuela and the Simon Bolivar Bridge, crossed by thousands of migrants on a daily basis.
According to the Union records, Venezuela is facing its fifth year of continuous economic recession and hyperinflation. The crisis has caused a collapse of the health and education systems, scarcity of food and medicines, violence and insecurity. Outbreaks of diseases that had been previously eradicated, including measles, diphtheria and malaria, have returned. Malnutrition rates, particularly among children, are at critical levels. Together with children, women, elderly people and indigenous populations are the most affected.
In addition, the current crisis has triggered unprecedented population displacements. According to UNHCR-IOM over 1 million Venezuelans are seeking shelter in Colombia, around 506,000 in Peru, and 221,000 in Ecuador. Many more have fled to the Caribbean and Central America. This is the largest migratory flow ever recorded in Latin America.
In January, as A.M. Costa Rica reported, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accepted the invitation of the European Union to form part of the "International Contact Group" for Venezuela. The European group is comprised of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Holland, Italy and Sweden but the group also includes Latin American nations including Uruguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia, among others.
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A.M. Costa Rica wire services photo
The European Parliament recognized Juan Guaidó
as the legitimate interim President of Venezuela
in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution.
Federica Mogherini, High Commissioner and Vice President of the European Commission, said, "tThe group will help create trust and the conditions that are necessary for a credible process to emerge in line with the relevant provisions of the Venezuelan Constitution, allowing Venezuelans to determine their future through the holding of new elections, with all the guarantees.”
The Ministry agreed that it has an inescapable duty to contribute to the execution of all kinds of efforts so that, by means of negotiation and inclusive dialogue, and as soon as possible, the constitutional order in Venezuela can be re-established and a path of peace, democracy and reconstruction of its prosperity can be begun. The solution to the serious crisis has, as its main actors, Venezuelans themselves said the group.
The European Parliament recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate interim President of Venezuela in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution.
E.U. Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and member states also recognize Guaidó "as the only legitimate interim president of the country until new, transparent and credible presidential elections can be called in order to restore democracy."
In a resolution, adopted with 439 votes to 104 and 88 abstentions, the parliament reiterate its full support of the National Assembly, Venezuela's only legitimate democratic body whose powers need to be restored and respected, including the rights and safety of its members.
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