Brazil’s government donates half a million dollars to Colombian refugees in Ecuador, to be administered by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), website Terra reported Monday.
“The government and the Brazilian people have decided to offer humanitarian assistance to the government and people of Ecuador to support the refugees in this country, through UNHCR,” explained Fernando Limas, Brazil’s ambassador to Quito.
Limas added that the aid will finance projects, such as schools and food aid for students, for “recognized refugees or asylum seekers, established in the area of the northern border of Ecuador”.
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Pati said that the Brazilian donation “is another example of the integration and solidarity of our countries.”
Ecuador currently has the largest numbers of refugees in Latin America, with 52,000 officially recognized, and the actual number thought to exceed 135,000.
The UNHCR is currently organizing the relocation of some of the refugees to other Latin American countries, such as Brazil.