CUCUTA, Colombia, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Venezuela’s migrant exodus has
sparked a “monumental” humanitarian crisis, UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo
Grandi said during a visit Sunday to a border area of neighboring Colombia.
Grandi said he could better appreciate the scale of the crisis after
visiting the city of Cucuta on the Colombian-Venezuelan border and he
expected the United Nations will be able to provide more funds to help
Colombia deal with the influx.
His visit “symbolizes the will of the international community to be close
to Colombia in this very important effort to respond to a monumental crisis,”
Grandi told reporters.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Grandi will have talks Monday with
Colombia’s President Ivan Duque, who has called for more international
assistance.
“Impressed by Colombia’s efforts to document, feed, shelter & care for
thousands of Venezuelans arriving every day,” Grandi said on Twitter.
“Many are involved: government, local authorities, NGOs, churches, civil
society. This extraordinary solidarity needs more international support.”
Colombia has taken around half the nearly two million people the UN says
have exited Venezuela since 2015, driven by economic collapse which has led
to dire shortages of food and medicine.
Grandi opened a medical center in Cucuta which can cater for 320 people a
day.
The center, which will also offer protection to minors, was built with the
support of the UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council, Colombia’s foreign
ministry said.