MP: Trump’s money freeze for WHO hits Venezuela

MIAMI — US $ 110 Million Funding for Disease Prevention in Latin America, and US Assistance for Venezuelan Immigrants Suspend Funding to World Health Organization for Coronavirus Response President Donald Trump Pandemic was cast in suspicion as part of the decision of the pandemic.

House Democratic Party Chairman Elliot Engel sends secretary to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday, freezing funds for Pan American Health Organization exacerbates Venezuelan suffering in the hands of Nicolas Maduro He complained of fear.

A New York Democrat wrote in a letter to PAHO, Venezuela, “Pausing U.S. funding for life-saving activities is short-sighted and short-sighted by the Trump administration,” it also chairs Albio. • A Latin American-focused subcommittee signed by Chair Sires.

PAHO said this week that the United States suspended its contribution as an extension of Trump’s freeze on WHO.

However, two US officials warned that the final decision had not been made. One said the next US payment is due by late May and is discussing the PAHO exclusion. Officials on both sides claimed anonymity and discussed internal deliberation.

The Washington-based PAHO is unique in that it is not only a branch of the WHO in the Americas, but also an independently operated agency nearly half a century before the establishment of the United Nations agency. Only about one-third of that funding comes from WHO, with the rest provided by 35 Member States, of which the United States is by far the largest contributor, accounting for 60% of the total budget. . Currently, the United States owes PAHO $ 110 million in donations for 2019 and 2020.

The State Department and the US Agency for International Development do not comment.

Engel learned in a letter that Venezuelan and Venezuelan immigrants in Colombia have US $ 12 million in US funding to PAHO to diagnose and track coronaviruses. He was disappointed.

He said a US-sponsored effort within Venezuela saved lives and prevented the spread of the virus-caused disease COVID-19. A PAHO-sponsored measles vaccination program, which received $ 3.4 million in funding from USAID, fired 9 million Venezuelan children, from 5,800 in 2018 to less than 600 in 2019, measles He cites a study that paved the way for a 90% reduction in the case. 94% of Venezuelans live in poverty, indicating that 7 million need humanitarian assistance.

PAHO also declined to comment, pointing to Dr. Carissa Etienne, who leads the organization instead, saying Trump’s freeze in funding WHO was “extended” to include US funding for PAHO. It was

“We have enjoyed very strong cooperation and technical support from the US government for many years,” Dr. Carissa Etienne told reporters on Tuesday. “This mutual cooperation between the United States and PAHO has endured many years of testing. We hope we can continue to work in this stream and ensure the health and well-being of the vast majority of the Americas. I am. ”

Two weeks ago Trump ceased funding Geneva-based WHO. It mimics China’s guarantee of the spread of Coroneuro, arguing that it falsely opposed travel restrictions at the onset of an outbreak and delayed the declaration of a mass outbreak.

Many philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, along with European and African leaders and medical professionals, criticized the decision as unjust.

PAHO is one of the few ways the United States can provide assistance to Venezuela because it is unaware of Maduro and has no working embassy in Caracas.

Early in the outbreak of the coronavirus, PAHO also spoke with Venezuelan health officials and Colombian counters to discuss ways to stop the virus from spreading among millions of poor Venezuelan people who left Colombia. It was also the key for mediating communication with the part. A worsening pandemic is expected to overload Colombia’s already overloaded medical system. Like the United States, Colombia is unaware of Maduro.

Maduro consistently rejected the United States’ offer of humanitarian assistance and called them an outrageous attempt to destabilize his rules. Similarly, the opposition parties were reluctant to work with Maduro authorities to distribute aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Roman Catholic Church, and other sources, and regard it as a means of coercion.

However, over the past year, efforts to get rid of Maduro have stagnated and social conditions have deteriorated, and opposition groups have been prepared to benefit regular Venezuelan people and eventually someday prepare themselves for power. Believing to do so, it quietly softened the opposition to working through the socialist government. One opposition official called the cooperation a “necessary evil.”

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Matthew Lee, a Washington Associated Press writer, contributed to this report.