IDB will allocate millions of dollars for cities that receive Venezuelans

The board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will approve this Thursday in Washington a fund of 1,000 million dollars for Latin American cities that are receiving more cross-border immigrants in a short time, especially after the Venezuelan crisis .

“The idea is to combine the resources of the concession, such as the donation that will be published in the Economy Minister, Nadia Calviño (with five million dollars) with the writing of savings that we are going to do in the same Bank for technical cooperation, because the The reality of Bogotá, Lima or Quito is different, “the president of the IDB, Colombian Luis Alberto Moreno, told EFE on Wednesday.

The fund is made up of one hundred million dollars of the capital of the Bank, more than other suppliers and 800 million financing in “soft” credits for educational infrastructure projects, other speakers, who have written to EFE the adviser of the Office of the President of the IDB Martín Bès.

The phenomenon of migratory movements has always existed, but has never been seen as much as they have been published in recent years by various causes, such as in Venezuela, Syria and other Arab countries, Moreno said at the seminar “Migration and cities: the road towards inclusive integration “, organized today by the IDB and Telefónica in Madrid.

This is new in Latin America and especially in South America and the countries are reaching out to Venezuelans, or in Central America, with Nicaraguan emigrants or those arriving in Mexico from the Northern Triangle.

Urban planning is fundamental, Moreno added.

The Vice President of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, Axel van Trotsenburg, spoke of “financing” problems for the reception of immigrants, Venezuelans in the countries of the region with incomes, such as Colombia, where he will attend 1.2 million people. It represents 0.5% of annual GDP.

“We can grant our ordinary loans, but commercial resources are also needed,” as it is “hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, but the money is not there,” Van Trotsenburg said.

About Venezuela, it has been a “huge help”.

Moreno said that Venezuela exceeds 18 months of default with the IDB, noted the humanitarian emergency and faced the bankruptcy of public services, infrastructure and the “private sector.”

“They are dimensions never seen in Latin America.”

The manager of the Colombian government for the border with Venezuela, Felipe Muñoz, explained what the country is, and that the calculation of 0.5% of GDP to serve them is out of date.

“We need international cooperation and donations for humanitarian aid.”

Muñoz called for a “singular model” for Latin America because “we do not want the European model of fields”.

The mayor of Santiago de Chile, Felipe Alessandri, explained that the country was not prepared (1975) and the municipalities have had to react. Sixty percent of primary school students in the capital are immigrants.

“We are the city with more immigrants, but we lack resources,” as in other Latin American cities, and the national media should be aware of this, he said.