WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is providing $2.5 million for emergency food and medicine assistance to Venezuelan migrants in Colombia in the U.S.’ first action to alleviate a burgeoning humanitarian crisis that has reverberated across Latin America.
Most of the aid will be directed toward the border city of Cucuta, which has been overwhelmed in recent months by hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing hunger and economic turmoil.
USAID said in a statement Tuesday it will channel the funding through the Pan-American Health Organization and the United Nations’ World Food Program.
The move comes as the Trump administration is tightening sanctions against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government.
Maduro has repeatedly refused to accept humanitarian aid because he considers it a veiled attempt by the U.S. to destabilize the socialist-run country.
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