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Venezuela crisis: Pompeo arrives in Cucuta, meets Colombian President
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IANS | 15 Apr, 2019
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in the Colombian border
city of Cucuta, where he will visit two border crossing points and meet
Colombian President Ivan Duque to discuss the crisis in neighbouring
Venezuela.
After ending his Peru visit, the top US diplomat to
Colombia arrived here a little before 4 pm at Camilo Daza International
Airport for the final leg of a regional tour he began in Chile, Efe news
reported.
At the air terminal, Pompeo was welcomed by Colombia's Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo Garcia.
Before
arriving here, Pompeo visited three countries -- Chile, Paraguay and
Peru. The main issue on his agenda was the Venezuelan crisis and the
challenges of dealing with the situation both regionally and
internationally.
In Cucuta, the main border crossing point
between Colombia and Venezuela, Pompeo went to a shelter housing
Venezuelan refugees where he met with Duque and Vice President Marta
Lucia Ramirez, as well as Humberto Calderon Berti, the ambassador to
Colombia appointed by Venezuela's interim president, Juan Guaido.
Pompeo
and Duque chatted with some of the Venezuelans being housed at the
shelter, including several children, who told them about the
difficulties they had experienced living in their country.
Upon leaving the shelter, Pompeo signed a mural on which he wrote "Blessings to you all."
Underneath that, Duque added the phrase "We're united in solidarity and affection."
Later,
Pompeo and Duque went to the Simon Bolivar border bridge between
Colombia and Venezuela, where they strolled around on the Colombian side
of the bridge and heard shouts of "Freedom! Freedom!" from a large
crowd of Venezuelans.
Duque told reporters in English that Colombia had taken in 1.5 million Venezuelans over the past two years.
The
US official and Duque also went to visit the warehouse facilities where
humanitarian aid is being stockpiled on the Colombian side of the
Tienditas border bridge, which is currently being blocked by Venezuelan
troops so that this aid cannot be ferried into their country, this on
the order of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Before the
arrival of the US Secretary of State, Duque presented in Cucuta an
"Impact Plan," a package of measures to help Colombia's provinces
bordering on Venezuela deal with the effects of the crisis in the
oil-producing neighboring country.
That package of measures is
valued at approximately 712 billion pesos (about $229 million) and is
targeted at the provinces of Norte de Santander, Arauca, Cesar, La
Guajira, Vichada and Guainia.
This is Pompeo's second visit to
Colombia this year after he traveled to the city of Cartagena on Jan. 2,
where he spoke with Duque about the Venezuelan crisis and the fight
against drug trafficking.
Venezuela has been mired in a severe
political, economic and social crisis for years, but it became more
acute in January when Maduro was inaugurated to a second six-year term
after winning an election the previous May that was held to be
fraudulent by the Venezuelan opposition and a significant portion of the
international community.
After Maduro's inauguration, the head
of the opposition-controlled Parliament, Juan Guaido, proclaimed himself
Venezuela's interim president and since then he has received
recognition as the country's legitimate leader by more than 50 nations
around the world, including the US and most of the nations of Latin
America and Europe.
The US, Colombia and other nations began
stockpiling humanitarian aid for Venezuela in Cucuta, Brazil and Curacao
some months ago with an eye toward shipping it into Venezuela to
alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people, but Maduro has blocked
those shipments, claiming that there is no crisis in Venezuela and that
aid shipments could be the pretext for a US-led invasion.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
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66.20
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64.50 |
UK Pound
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87.50
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84.65 |
Euro
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78.25
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75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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