UN Opens Reception Center for Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia

GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th March, 2019) The UN refugee agency on Friday opened Colombia's first reception center for Venezuelans fleeing the crisis-hit Latin American country, the agency's spokesman Andrej Mahecic said.

The center was set up in Maicao in northern La Guajira region bordering Venezuela at the request of the Colombian authorities and has an initial capacity of 350 people, he said at a briefing.

The city is one of the main destinations for Venezuelans. Hundreds of them, including children and the elderly, are forced to live on the streets, Mahecic said.

The UN estimates over 3.

4 million Venezuelans have fled abroad, many of them since 2015. Colombia is the Primary host country, sheltering 1.1 million people, but its resources are already stretched thin.

Venezuela, believed to hold the world's largest oil reserves, has been in a crisis since the 2015 oil market collapse. It escalated in January when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and was backed by the United States, Colombia and several other nations. Incumbent Nicolas Maduro called the rival a US puppet. He has the support of Russia and China, among others.