The Secretary of State of USA, Antony Blinkenannounced this Wednesday that his country will allocate a new amount of 685 million dollars to help the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to welcome migrants who pass through their territories.
The head of American diplomacy made this announcement during a meeting of foreign ministers of the Los Angeles Declarationan initiative launched by the United States to address regional migration flows, held in New York on the occasion of the UN General Assembly.
Blinken detailed that the new funds include $369 million to help refugees and vulnerable migrants in their host countries.as well as $228 million in food assistance for displaced Venezuelans in Colombia, Ecuador y Peru.
The United States contribution will also provide $10 million for a program of the World Bank which promotes economic development for refugees and their host communities.
With this new contribution, Blinken said, the United States has invested more than $1.2 billion in 2024 to advance the Los Angeles Declaration, signed in 2022 by twenty countries that committed to cooperating to stop irregular migration and expand routes. legal for migrants.
The Secretary of State also announced the creation of a new secretariat, chaired on a rotating basis by Colombia, which will be responsible for establishing the priorities of the Los Angeles Declaration for 2025.
«I am sure that together we can move towards a continent where migration is a free and legitimate option, where all people can live with security, dignity and opportunities»Blinken concluded.
The Colombian Foreign Minister, Luis Gilberto Murillosaid at the meeting that the creation of a secretariat is “very important to advance the institutionalization” of the Los Angeles Declaration.
Murillo claimed that Colombia has welcomed almost three million Venezuelans, of which 2.5 million have already been regularized, and that it has dedicated 1% of GDP to assist migrants.
But he stressed that his country is also a transit country through which people of dozens of nationalities pass and that “more work with other countries” is needed to address the issue. EFE (I)
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