Trump´s government wants to welcome more Venezuelan refugees
Donald Trump´s government has initiated informal talks with allied countries in Latin America to welcome Venezuelan refugees to the United States, a possible turnaround behind their firm position to accept refugees from countries overwhelmed by conflict. A senior US government official told McClatchy that while no agreements have been reached and details are scarce, US officials have begun these talks "informally", reported EL Nuevo Herald.
These “informal” consultations are part of a broader strategy to confront the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans. They flee and threaten to destabilize the US partner countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
"Those talks are taking place", said a senior administration official. "I'm still not ready to say which direction we're going, but it's certainly something we're seeing in terms of how the region will absorb all these people who leave Venezuela".
The issue of refugees promises to be one of the main talks at the Summit of the Americas this year when the United States and more than 30 Latin American leaders meet this weekend in Lima, Peru, to discuss the most pressing issues in the hemisphere, mainly that of the humanitarian and economic crisis in Venezuela.
President Donald Trump announced this week he will not go to the summit, but Vice President Mike Pence will take his place along with an elaborate US delegation that includes Florida Senator Marco Rubio, well versed in the issues to be addressed. The Venezuelan exodus has been an adversity for some of the best allies of the United States in the region. Colombia, which has absorbed more than 600,000 Venezuelan citizens, has said that the refugee crisis could undermine years of work in search of peace with the guerrillas, precisely at a time when it´s trying to reestablish control in areas previously controlled by the rebels.
The number of Venezuelans seeking asylum has soared 2,000 percent worldwide since 2014, according to the UN refugee agency. The international organization estimates that 1.5 million displaced Venezuelans have spread to more than 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The United States says it has already absorbed thousands of Venezuelan immigrants who have arrived in its territory in the last five years. While the US plans to accept more Venezuelan refugees are in their early stages, expectations are not very high. Those who have spoken with the administration on the subject would like Washington to think more ambitiously.
"Nobody thinks it's going to be a huge number," said a US source familiar with the talks. “Maybe a couple of thousands".
