Sen. Menendez Issues Statement on USAID’s Announcement of Humanitarian Assistance to Venezuela

WASHINGTON, March 20 -- The office of Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement after the U.S. Agency for International Development announced that it was providing humanitarian assistance to address food security and public health issues related to Venezuela's growing refugee crisis:

"I welcome USAID's announcement to provide humanitarian assistance in response to Venezuela's growing refugee crisis. With thousands of Venezuelans fleeing their country daily, this long overdue decision ensures that the most vulnerable migrants will receive access to food and health care they couldn't access in their own country.

"Tragically, amidst the collapse of its hospital system and heart-wrenching stories of parents being forced to abandon their children at orphanages so they can be fed, Venezuela's suffering is the sole responsibility of the Maduro regime's failed economic policies and rampant plundering of state resources."

"As Venezuela's crisis spills beyond its border and threatens to destabilize neighboring countries, today's announcement must only be a first step. I urge the Trump Administration to convene a donors summit and marshal a coordinated international response to address the Venezuelan refugee crisis and humanitarian tragedy."