US Ambassador appeals to Venezuela to accept help

US Ambassador to TT Joseph Mondello has appealed to the Venezuelan government to accept international assistance.

He was speaking Thursday at a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at St Finbar's RC Church, Diego Martin.

He said he was glad to support the important work of Living Water Community particularly in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.

"Your mission is not an easy one and events in Venezuela over the past year have not made it any easier."

He said Living Water Community assists refugees of all nationalities equally but has been thrust to the forefront of this crisis.

"Supporting refugees is not the same as advocating for open borders. In fact, we are assisting the Government of TT as they work to secure their borders. Effectively managing the flow of people between countries is in everyone's best interest. Secure borders, and sympathy for those forced to flee a dictatorship, are not mutually exclusive."

Mondello said the US is focused on the immediate humanitarian situation and assisting vulnerable Venezuelans wherever they may be.

"But helping them while they are still in their own country is the best solution. That is why we continue calling for the Maduro regime to accept international assistance and pursue policies that alleviate the humanitarian crisis. Until this happens, the assistance provided by the Living Water Community, the United Nations, the International Organisation for Migration, and others, will continue to be vitally important to the region's responses."