At the Solidarity event with the migrants and Venezuelan refugees, which is held in Brussels, organized by the European Union and Canada, the Colombian Foreign Minister, Álvaro Leyva, criticized the non-participation of Venezuela in the meeting. “How to deal with Venezuelans without Venezuela being present? I object”.
In the meeting, which has the participation of donors, humanitarian organizations, international organizations and countries receiving migration, an attempt will be made to assess the current situation and join efforts, according to the organizers.
Leyva, regarding the event that is held for the third time since 2019 and that managed to collect in the 2021 edition the amount of 2,544 million dollars, shares the doubts raised by the Venezuelan Government about the census used and the use of the resources collected . “You have to start talking with Venezuela to establish real censuses,” she said.
The Colombian Foreign Minister questioned the relationship of former President Iván Duque with his neighbor. “Of course we are concerned that we have more than two thousand kilometers of border with Venezuela and that all this time it has been unknown, as if it did not exist. And meanwhile, what happened to the border population? Hunger, the passage of contraband, drug trafficking, lack of authority. All this must be put back together, ”he explained.
Now “Colombia resumed relations with Venezuela, the United States is negotiating with Venezuela; there have been conversations of a social nature and now the political ones are beginning,” Leyva said.
Although Colombian civil society organizations maintain that the country requires 1,235 million dollars a month to care for Venezuelan migrants, the New Granada foreign minister stated that “it is not that Colombia does not need money, but there is a fundamental factor that is not being taken into account. And if the one that needs money is the Venezuelan State? Well, then, inject it, negotiate, seek full democracy and you will immediately be solving a migration issue”.
