Colombia calls for an international reaction when democracies are in danger

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Vice President and Foreign Minister of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, considers that for her country it is an “ethical and moral duty” to receive Venezuelans and asks the international community to react when democracies are in danger, after a “passive action” in the face of what happened in Venezuela.

“We have to learn to react promptly when democracies are in danger”, said Ramírez on Tuesday at an informative forum in Madrid, where she focused on reviewing the current multilateralism to achieve “a much more effective and timely reaction of the international community when democracies are in danger”.

Ramírez recalled how in past decades it was Colombians who emigrated to Venezuela, and now it is the other way around, since more than two million Venezuelans are in her country; her government approved temporary protection status for them, a fact “unprecedented from a humanitarian and social point of view”.

“Colombia has taken on an enormous challenge by opening the door to Venezuelan migration,” said the vice president, who recalled that this population would be regularized in the coming months.

The Temporary Protection status for migrants, which will be valid for 10 years, seeks to legally welcome those who have arrived in Colombia from Venezuela fleeing the crisis and make them part of Colombian society “permanently”.