World Food Programme video shows desperate plight of migrants leaving Venezuela
BOGOTÁ/NEW YORK – As world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly they will discuss the thousands of people continuing to leave Venezuela in what has become a regional migrant crisis. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) will later today distribute recently-shot video from Colombia, filmed in Cúcuta and surrounding areas, showing migrants on foot, crossing the river at the border, and eating at a WFP-supported community kitchen.
WFP is providing emergency food assistance – hot meals, food vouchers and school meals - to vulnerable migrants, especially women and children, in four Colombian departments. On Ecuador’s border with Colombia, WFP is providing people with vouchers for food.
Available for interview will be Miguel Barreto, WFP's Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean; Deborah Hines, WFP's Country Director for Colombia; and Doug Mercado, WFP's Emergency Coordinator in Colombia. Please contact Norha Restrepo (norha.restrepo@wfp.org, Mob.: +507 6671 5355) for details.
Broadcast quality video material will be available later today. For more information contact jonathan.dumont@wfp.org
A selection of hi-res photos is available here: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/2owDYPBsiO
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The United Nations World Food Programme - saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.
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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 2321, Mob. +39 346 7600521
Steve Taravella, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-556-6909, Mob. +1-202-770-5993
Herve Verhoosel, WFP/Geneva, Mob. +41 798428057
Norha Restrepo, WFP/Panama, Tel. +507-317-3936, Mob. +507-6671-5355
Diego Alvarez, WFP/Bogotá, Tel. +57-1-346-0611, Mob. +57-323-276-7575