The Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, held his first meeting this Wednesday with four Colombian organizations in Venezuela to discuss the reality of Colombians residing in the country.
Through his Twitter account @AABenedetti, the Colombian ambassador expressed: “We began the first contacts with the Colombian community in Venezuela. We are going to reach their totality, we will listen to them and we will serve them again after they were left and treated with negligence.
For your part Juan Carlos Tannusnational director of the Association of Colombian Men and Women in Venezuela, who was present at the meeting, indicated that the meeting expressed “some of the concerns that are already known about the abandonment by the Colombian State of Colombianness in Venezuelan territory.” .
In this regard, he mentioned that issues related to the registration of double live births were discussed, the absence of records for the children of Colombians born in Venezuelan territory to apply for Colombian nationality, passports, proof of life, homologation of academic titles, deprived of liberty and access to health.
Tanus noted that they raised Benedetti articulate support programs in health matters so that all the health care expenditure of Colombians in Venezuela does not fall solely on the Venezuelan government.
“The Colombian government should make an effort to modify the health law and serve this sector of the population abroad,” said Tanus.
He reported that they also spoke about Colombian detainees and convicts in Venezuelan prisons where he assures there is legal neglect by the Colombian executive.
In this sense, he pointed out that they agreed to present the Ambassador with a map of the Colombian prison population in Venezuela in the coming days.
Embassy without budget
In the meeting that took place at the headquarters of the Colombian embassy in Caracas, the conditions in which the Colombian government received its different consulates in the country were reported.
“The government of President Duque left the Venezuelan budget at zero (…) He turned the consular service into thugs. There they stole even pens, computers, hard drives. They didn’t leave any data,” Tanus said.
Studies of Colombians in Zulia
Tanus announced that next week they will announce the steps to feed a characterization study of Colombians in Zulia that will be applied online through the web www.colombianosenvenezuela.org.
At the launch of the study, it will propose to the 21 mayors of the Zulian entity that they carry out characterization studies of the Colombian population in their municipalities with the objective that the results can be included in national public policies and in conversations with the Colombian government.
The national director of the Association of Colombians and Colombians in Venezuela indicated that the state of Zulia concentrates the largest number of Colombians in the country, followed by Miranda and that in total there are around 8.5 million Colombians in the country, including binationals.
A meeting of Colombians living in the Capital District, Miranda and La Guaira states is scheduled to take place in Caracas next November.
