(Reuters) -The United States pledged $407 million in humanitarian aid to Venezuelans who have fled the country, countries hosting them and Venezuelans still at home, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said in a statement on Thursday.
The pledge came as Canada hosts a virtual conference intended to raise money to support more than 5.6 million Venezuelans who have fled the South American country since 2015 due to an economic collapse in the once-prosperous OPEC nation. Most have settled elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“This new funding will provide the Venezuelan people with a wide range of lifesaving and essential assistance,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told the conference.
“The United States remains steadfast in our support to the Venezuelan people in their struggle for the restoration of democracy and rule of law,” she said.
Washington, which has implemented sanctions on several top Venezuelan officials as well as the country’s oil industry in an effort to oust President Nicolas Maduro, has now provided $1.7 billion in aid in response to the crisis in Venezuela, both within the country and to support migrants.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Luc Cohen; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
