Claudia López signs memorandum to promote attention to the migrant population

The director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Larry Sacks, and the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to strengthen mutual cooperation in the face of migration and the implementation of the Peace Agreement.

The objective of the memorandum is to increase the city's response capacity for the social and economic integration of migration flows, the fight against xenophobia, the generation of employment and the support for entrepreneurship of host communities. “Bogotá is what it is: Colombia's pride, its engine, because it is blessed to receive the best of Colombian and global human capital. It is an inclusive, supportive and diverse city,” said Claudia López.

Cooperation aimed at the implementation of the Peace Agreement in Bogotá, gender equality, leadership development for vulnerable youth and inclusive economic development will also be deepened.

“The Memorandum of Understanding allows us to continue to find opportunities for young people, for migrants and for women,” said Larry Sacks, highlighting the response they will have to xenophobia and the work that will be done to promote inclusion. “We will be able to continue to weave the path to reconciliation, together in this atmosphere of trust, respect and friendship,” he added.

It should be recalled that in the most recent report by Migration Colombia, dated August 31, 2021, it was reported that there are 1,842,390 Venezuelan migrants in the national territory; of these 1,182,059 are in the process of regularization within the framework of the implementation of the Temporary Protection Statute for Venezuelan migrants.

21.3 per cent are in Bogotá, that is, there are 393,716 people from the neighboring country. “The Colombian capital offers a large number of services to migrants that include education, cultural programs, humanitarian assistance, protection for victims of gender-based violence, among other services,” said the Mayor's Office of Bogotá.

Installation of the Intersectoral District Commission for the Care of the Migrant Population

This Tuesday, the mayor also chaired the first session of the Intersectoral Commission for the Care of the Migrant Population. The objective of this space is to lead, guide and articulate the formulation and development of the district strategy for humanitarian assistance for the migrant refugee population in situations of vulnerability.

“Bogotá is not only the migration capital of Colombia, but it is the city in all of Latin America and the Caribbean that has the most migrants. That means that in the last year and a half what has been done in Bogotá is monumental,” said the senior district advisor for migration, Iván Gaitan.

Colombia regularized more than 700,000 Venezuelans with the Temporary Protection Statute

Colombian authorities have already issued more than 700,000 cards with the Temporary Protection Statute for Venezuelans, a measure aimed at regularizing migrants and which, according to Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramírez, said on March 25, are seeking to apply other countries.

“The Colombian Protection Statute is a reference that they are looking at because today the reality of migration forces all nations of the world to receive migrants,” Ramírez said in a meeting with international correspondents, when asked about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine affects the resources that the country can receive. to serve Venezuelans.

The statute is open to all Venezuelan migrants who have entered the country before January 2021 and seeks to “discourage irregularity” and that benefit can also be accessed by those who enter the country in the first two years of the rule's validity on a regular basis, that is, with a stamp in their passport.

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