Nicolás Maduro’s government on Thursday accused Colombia’s president, Iván Duque, of “racist and xenophobic” for refusing vaccines against Covid-19 to Venezuelans living in that country who have not yet regularized their documentation.
“This is terrible discrimination, a burden of racism, xenophobia and the generation of hatred against Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. We cannot allow it,” said Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.
For this reason, the vice president explained, she presented a “strong protest” to the representatives in Venezuela of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with whom they held a “very important” meeting.
“We have so violently condemned the horrible, barbaric, depraved statements of Mr Iván Duque (…) that it violates the human rights of Venezuelan migrants,” he continued.
Duque said on Monday that Venezuelan migrants who are not regularized in Colombia or do not have dual citizenship will not be able to access the vaccines that will arrive in February 2021, a statement that has drawn him numerous criticisms.
Colombia is the largest recipient of the Venezuelan exodus and as of October 31 this year, the country had 1,717,352 inhabitants of that country, 55% of whom are in an irregular situation, according to data from the immigration service.
CALL TO RETURN
Rodríguez reiterated on Thursday the call for Venezuelans to return to their country, as he once again denied the veracity of the migration figures handled by agencies like the UN, according to which some 5.4 million Venezuelans have emigrated in recent years.
“Return to Venezuela (…) we know that there are not many, these figures have been manipulated, they speak of a figure that has no basis or possibility of transport that allows such mobility, it is fake,” said he.
The vice president recalled that this year around 200,000 Venezuelans returned to the country amid the pandemic and thanks to the government’s return plan known as “Vuelta a la Patria”.
“We demand respect for the human rights of Venezuelans in other countries, who have left in search of a horizon,” he noted.
He also pointed out that there are about six million Colombians living in Venezuela, who “have never been denied anything”.
MAKE SANCTIONS
At the meeting, attended by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and the country’s representative for human rights Larry Devoe, the Maduro Executive stressed the need to overcome the economic sanctions imposed in recent years, particularly from the perspective of the United States. .
“We report on the steps President Nicolás Maduro has taken to release funds that will give Venezuela access to Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and others that are already recognized to address the covid-19 pandemic,” said Rodríguez.
He said Venezuela “has resources to pay for its vaccine,” but these “were blocked by order of (US President) Donald Trump,” referring to more than 300 sanctions the US has imposed, according to the Chavista Executive. United States
In addition, he added, Venezuela has “a lot of cash in Europe,” so the government is making “arrangements to release them to access and pay for the Russian vaccine.”