Providing aid to vulnerable Venezuelan refugees and migrants

Erwin Barreto Vazquez was 21 years old when a car crash left him paralysed from the waist down in 2005, in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

More than a decade after the accident, the country plummeted into a deep socioeconomic crisis and Erwin found it increasingly difficult to provide for his family. With no other options, he fled with his family to Trinidad and Tobago.

When COVID-19 hit Latin America and the Caribbean in early 2020, some of the most vulnerable, like Erwin, needed further support.

The EU funded the UNHCR to provide humanitarian aid to Venezuelans who fled their country to escape hunger and those affected by COVID-19. Erwin was one of the many people who received humanitarian aid through cash support in Trinidad and Tobago.

Since 2015, 7.1 million Venezuelans have left their country, with 6 million scattered across Latin America and the Caribbean. It is the largest forced displacement in the region’s history and one of the largest migration crises in the world.

In 2023 alone, the EU has allocated €75 million to help vulnerable Venezuelans inside and outside the country with emergency healthcare, cash assistance, food and protection, among other areas.

“In Venezuela, every month I had to choose whether to buy food, nappies or medicine,” Erwin says. He and his family came to Trinidad and Tobago to escape hunger, but with the pandemic, their resources collapsed.