On March 8, 2024, the Multi-Agency Coordinating Committee held its first meeting for the year where they addressed the influx of Venezuelan migrants into Guyana. The Committee’s continued efforts are aimed at providing crucial humanitarian relief to migrants, especially returning Guyanese fleeing Venezuela’s terrible economic conditions.
According to HIAS, an international humanitarian NGO aimed at helping refugees, there are now 29,000 Venezuelans residing in Guyana. They also indicated that there was a large number of indigenous Warao refugees and Guyanese returnees from Venezuela seeking international protection.
This meeting was chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd, who emphasized to the Committee during his remarks that the government’s stance on aiding Venezuelan migrants is still in place. Although their long-term goal is to become fully integrated into Guyanese society, he pointed out that in the interim, the many agencies must pool their resources to offer the most vulnerable people services in critical areas like healthcare, education, labour, sanitation, shelter, food, and clothing.
Given the significant concentration of Venezuelan migrants in region 1, Minister Todd assigned the Committee the job of planning another outreach program as soon as it is feasible.