The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has sent over 100 food hampers into Kaikan, in Region Seven, as part of efforts to assist Venezuelan nationals who continue to flee to Guyana’s border regions due to the ongoing economic turmoil in their home country.
The Department of Public Information reported the CDC’s acting Director-General, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig, as saying that 52 hampers were flown in on Friday and another 52 were flown in yesterday.
The hampers, which each weigh 43 pounds, contain basic food items such as canned beans, milk and biscuits.
Since July, the CDC has been working closely with the IOM to provide relief to migrants in the border regions, with millions having been expended on the provision of food hampers. A recently approved supplementary appropriation allocated an additional $19,219,654 for the CDC in 2018, with $4.8 million of that sum earmarked for relief supplies, including food for the more than 2,000 mostly-indigenous Venezuelans who have crossed into the hinterland regions, including Region One. Meanwhile Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix has announced that millions of dollars has already been spent in vaccines and operational expenses to manage the influx of migrants. He told the National Assembly during the 2019 budget debate that his department is working to develop programmes to control the influx and identify those already in Guyana.
