The political and economic crisis in Venezuela was the center of the political debate among the heads of state that, this Wednesday, met in Santa Fe, Argentina in the Mercosur semi-annual summit, a block from which the Caribbean country is currently suspended. Neither Uruguay, Bolivia nor Chile addressed a word regarding the Venezuelan situation.
U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Friday urged Venezuela’s government to release prisoners who were arrested for peacefully protesting, and confirmed that a delegation would remain in the country to monitor the human rights situation.
Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, confirmed her visit to Venezuela between June 19 and 21 to meet with President Nicolas Maduro, as well as several ministers and senior officials of his Government.
A second airplane from China carrying medical supplies including medicine arrived in Venezuela on Monday as part of a humanitarian technical cooperation agreement between President Nicolas Maduro's government and the Asian powerhouse.
A second shipment of Red Cross humanitarian aid will arrive in Venezuela in around three weeks, the charity organization said on Wednesday, reiterating its plea for the issue not to be politicized.“There's a shipment coming by sea that we expect to be in the country on May 8,” said Hernan Bongioanni, the Red Cross commissioner for this mission.
The Lima Group made up of mostly Latin American countries called on the United Nations on Monday to “take action” to prevent an escalation of Venezuela's humanitarian crisis.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Friday it was prepared to channel humanitarian aid to Venezuela through an operation that could be similar to one in Syria, potentially helping ease chronic hunger and disease in the South American nation. President Nicolas Maduro in February blocked efforts by political opponents to bring US-backed aid into the country across its borders with neighboring Colombia and Brazil, and has denied the country is suffering a humanitarian crisis.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) presented on Thursday the balance of its main humanitarian concerns in Colombia, highlighting a deterioration of security conditions in the most remote areas of the country. The cases of armed conflicts and the violence that has continued to plague Colombia in recent decades, as well as the recent mass exodus of Venezuelan migrants, showed a complex humanitarian context.
The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved on Wednesday the resolution Humanitarian Assistance in Venezuela encouraging member states, permanent observers, and the competent international organizations “to continue providing support and implementing measures to address the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.”
As Venezuela's five-day power blackout left homes without water, Lilibeth Tejedor found herself looking for it on Monday in the last place she would have imagined: a drain pipe feeding into a river carrying sewage through the capital, Caracas.