The Los Angeles Post

Additional $314 Million for U.S. Humanitarian Response to the Venezuela Regional Crisis

by · Published · Updated

06/10/2022 08:57 AM EDT

President Biden announced at the Ninth Summit of the Americas nearly $314 million in new humanitarian, health, economic, and development assistance for Venezuelan refugees and vulnerable migrants across the hemisphere.  This assistance includes nearly $103 million from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and over $171 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to support vulnerable Venezuelans inside Venezuela and those who have sought refuge throughout Latin America and the Caribbean as well as $40 million in development funding through USAID.

Nearly $103 Million in Department of State Humanitarian Assistance

  • This new funding through PRM supports a wide range of life-saving humanitarian programs for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, such as emergency shelter; access to health care; water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies; increased access to education; support for livelihoods; COVID-19 support, and protection for vulnerable groups including survivors of gender-based violence, children and adolescents, LGBTQI+ persons, and indigenous people in seventeen countries including Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. 

$171 Million in USAID Humanitarian Assistance

  • This new funding through USAID will provide humanitarian relief for vulnerable Venezuelans in Venezuela and emergency food assistance for Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 

Venezuela Regional Refugee and Migrant Response

  • More than 6.1 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015, making it the largest external displacement of persons in the Hemisphere’s history. Of those, more than 5 million have sought refuge throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Many are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance such as access to shelter, education, health, and in some cases, international protection.  The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these needs and increased the vulnerability of Venezuelan refugees and migrants, along with the host communities that have welcomed them, throughout the region.
  • PRM leads in providing U.S. humanitarian assistance, protection, and solutions for refugees, asylum seekers, migrants in situations of vulnerability, and stateless persons and works in close coordination with USAID. PRM’s response, through the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and other international and nongovernmental organization partners has been a comprehensive approach with programs targeted to the country-specific challenges faced by Venezuelan refugees and migrants.
  • PRM’s Regional Refugee Coordinators located in Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama coordinate humanitarian diplomacy; liaise with national and local government officials, civil society, donor country representatives, UN officials, and aid recipients; and monitor and evaluate PRM-funded programs in the region.