Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez said the substantial number of Venezuelans fleeing their country has generated “fiscal stress” and other challenges for Colombia, but “we are facing them because we see this as a humanitarian situation.”
Duque, who spoke with the Washington Examiner following an appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Colombia is promoting a “diplomatic blockade against a dictatorship.”
And he pushed back against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s claim that the U.S. and Colombia are trying to “create a humanitarian crisis in order to justify a military intervention.”
“We have shown the opposite,” Duque said. “We have shown the world that we can have a diplomatic blockade where more than 50 countries have recognized Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela, and that is a very important step to show to the world that through diplomacy the dictatorship can also be pressured to come to an end.”
To date, Colombia has taken in more than 1.3 million Venezuelans. According to Foreign Policy magazine, “An estimated 4,000 people stream across the Venezuela-Colombia border every day, as hyperinflation, starvation, and violence worsen under the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The more than 1.3 million Venezuelans who have settled in Colombia have overwhelmed border zones and major cities, which experts say are unprepared to manage the crisis.”
Duque was asked if the added influx of migrants is putting a strain on the Colombian economy.
“It has challenges, but we are facing them,” Duque said. “We are facing them because we see this as a humanitarian situation where we need to provide the Venezuelan brothers not only fraternity but the access to health to jobs to education. And those are the things Colombia is doing, although, of course, it generates fiscal stress. But more important than that is our message to the world, and it is that in moments of humanitarian crisis, Colombia is up to the challenge of supporting our Venezuelan brothers.”
President Trump met with Duque at the White House on Wednesday.
“Colombia has had a strong relationship with the United States,” Duque told the Examiner. “We have always gotten bipartisan support, and I have received from President Trump strong support in our fight against terror and against drugs. But at the same time, we need to strengthen the trade relationship between our two countries.”
[Opinion: A new leader in Venezuela creates hope]
