On Tuesday, 11 countries in Latin America, including Costa Rica, called on the government of Nicolás Maduro to accept humanitarian aid to decompress the crisis that is causing a massive migration of Venezuelans through the region.
In addition to Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay took part in the meeting.
In the sixth point of the Declaration of Quito, it was established that, in accordance with the national legislation of each country, the expired travel documents of Venezuelan citizens for migratory purposes should be accepted.
In spite of the insistence of Caracas in denying the dimensions of the phenomenon, the delegates of the governments gathered in Quito signed a declaration in which they call Maduro to cooperate.
In the meeting that ended after two days of deliberations in Quito, 13 countries participated. Bolivia, a close ally of Venezuela, abstained from signing, while the Dominican Republic indicated that it would do so later, because it was represented by a counselor at the embassy.
The countries, several of which are overwhelmed by the massive arrival of Venezuelans fleeing the serious economic crisis, also agreed to support eachother in the care of their nationals in Venezuela.
At the same time, they exhort the Venezuelan government to guarantee its migrant citizens access to identity and travel documents.
Around 2.3 million Venezuelans (7.5% of the population of 30.6 million) live abroad, of which 1.6 million have migrated since 2015, when the shortage of medicines and food in their country worsened in the middle of a hyperinflation that pulverizes the salaries, according to UN figures.