UN refugee chief urges open doors for Venezuelans

The U.N. refugee chief is appealing to Latin American countries to “keep the doors open and diminish the restrictions imposed on Venezuelans” seeking refuge.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the Security Council Tuesday that 3.5 million Venezuelans have left the country and about 15 countries have received them — primarily Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.

He urged increased support for those countries, saying, “Our appeal for the humanitarian crisis in that region is one of the most poorly funded globally.”

He warned that failure “will leave those governments exposed also politically in their own countries, and under the burden of an unsustainable mass of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.”

U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence will address the Security Council Wednesday on the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.