The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, assured yesterday, in Cúcuta, that Spain will maintain its support to Colombia in its task of assisting Venezuelan migrants arriving in the country.
González Laya made, together with her Colombian colleague, Claudia Blum, a visit to Cúcuta, the border between the two countries, where many of the 1.7 million Venezuelans who have arrived in Colombia fleeing the situation in Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Maduro are settled.
The head of Spanish diplomacy recognized the “generous effort” made by Colombia to attend to these people, protecting them, temporarily for ten years, and assured that Spain will accompany this effort as it has done so far.
“We will continue to support them -he said- in everything we can in the coming months and in the new international donor conference for Venezuelan migrants, which will be organized by Canada in the second half of this year, taking over from Spain, so that this situation remains at the center of the international community’s attention and is the object of international solidarity.”
During her stay in Cúcuta, the Minister visited several initiatives financed by Spanish cooperation, such as a primary health care center for newly arrived migrants.
She also visited a child care center, the La Parada shelter, supported by Spanish cooperation funds through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), where children “have a safe, quiet space where they can be educated, entertained and carry out childhood activities”.
He also visited the Jorge Cristo Sahium Hospital of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), adapted to the pandemic and financed in part by Spanish contributions pledged at the last donors’ conference.
Underlining the purpose of her visit, González Laya said: “I wanted to express Spain’s solidarity through the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation with these citizens, to show my empathy, the empathy of all Spaniards with these citizens and their situation and to send them a very clear message from Spain, in a very humble way, but in a very consistent way we will continue to accompany them and support them in everything we can in the coming months”.
