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Donald Trump ’s administration is reportedly planning to divert more than $40m in humanitarian aid for Central America to support the US-backed opposition in Venezuela .
Citing sources and an internal memorandum, the Los Angeles Times
The countries are at the center of a migration crisis in which thousands of people have fled poverty, violence and corruption and attempted to cross the southern US border.
The money will instead be used for salaries, airfare, propaganda, technical assistance for elections and “good governance” training for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and his faction, the memo reportedly said.
Spokespeople for the State Department, Mr Guaido and Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Show all 22 1 /22In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Yelitza Parra poses with her 7-year-old son Alyeiner Moises in Caracas, Venezuela. Alyeiner has been diagnosed with severe bone marrow aplasia and needs constant treatment and transplants, especially of platelets. Derived from his low defenses, he also suffers from Hepatitis C and Cushing's syndrome
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Alyeiner was diagnosed at the age of four after routine exams at school. "I had to buy the needles to do the hematology for my son," Yelitza said. She wants the government to pay more attention to the precarious situation of children with terminal illnesses
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Ines Zarza poses with her 7-year-old daughter Maria Elena. Maria Elena was diagnosed with severe sickle cell disease after a cerebrovascular accident in 2016
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Maria Elena has to take medicine, which Ines usually gets through donations. They need $2,600 for another test. "I don't even have money to eat, where I am going to find that amount?" Ines says
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Rosa Colina poses with her 17-year-old daughter Cristina. Cristina has been diagnosed with major thalassemia, systemic lupus erythematosus and Hepatitis C
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival "It is not easy to stand the criticism of people on the street," Cristina says. "In December last year we were walking and a group of young people approached. I heard one say to the other: 'Look, she has AIDS'. That was devastating for me because I don't have AIDS and I'm not going to give it to anyone," Cristina said
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Jacqueline Sulbarn poses with her 10-year-old son Carlos. Carlos is a survivor of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but must complete two years of treatment to prevent relapse. ALL is a type of blood and bone marrow cancer that leaves the child unprotected from infections
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Carlos' treatment has had to be interrupted due to his parent's economic problems. "Sometimes he asks me why he does not have hair, and I tell him it's because his dad wants to see him with the same haircut as him. My husband cut off all his hair too," Jaqueline says. According to the US National Library of Medicine, genetic disorders such as Down syndrome are a high risk factor which can lead to developing ALL.
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Elsa Murillo poses with her 16-year-old son Miguel Alejandro. Miguel was diagnosed with beta thalassemia in 2007, a genetic severe anemia that forces the adolescent to undergo red blood cell transfusions every three weeks. His illness could be solved with a bone marrow transplant, for which he is on an emergency waiting list that's not going down
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Despite the added difficulty of living two hours from the capital, the worst part for Elsa is to see her son lose hope: "I get sad when I see that he loses his temper. Sometimes he tells me that he does not want this anymore"
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Evelline Fernandez poses with her 15-year-old daughter Edenny. Edenny was diagnosed with major thalassemia at the age of one. She hes been receiving blood transfusions since she was seven months old
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival For Eddeny, the most difficult thing is to miss class and her classmates calling her 'chameleon' or 'zombie' because of her skin color, which sometimes changes from her natural tone to yellow. "When she grows up she wants to be a lawyer," says her mother Evelline
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Verioska Martinez poses with her 14-year-old son Jerson. Jerson has severe bone marrow aplasia, and he is one of the children on the list for an urgent transplant
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival "Here in Venezuela he does not have any chances, and his brother is not compatible [for a transplant]. The government told us that they cannot do anything because they owe so much money," says Martinez. She adds: "My children are my life. They know they are my everything. It's not only me, there are lots of mums who need help"
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Norlisa Aparicio poses with her 16-year-old son Oscar, who has beta thalassemia. "My son's disease manifested at four months old. His bone marrow does not produce red blood cells," Norlisa says. "The illness is more or less manageable but he has been seeking a transplant for 14 years. It is hereditary. I took the risk to have another child in case they could be compatible, but they aren't. My 10-year-old daughter is also a carrier"
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival "The hardest part for me has been learning how the be a mother under this circumstances," says Norlisa. "We started bringing him to he hospital every 21 days thanks to much sacrifice. He has had severe dengue two times, at nine and at eleven years old. I feel helpless lots of times when I don't know what to do. There is no day that I don't speak about my son's need to get a transplant"
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Zulema Gonzalez poses with her 9-year-old son Juan Manuel. Juan Manuel was diagnosed with anemia when he was six months old, but it turned severe in January 2017 when he suffered a cerebrovascular accident. He suffered another last February.
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival 'My son needs a transplant because he has blood transfusions every 21 days," Zulema says. "His blood is B+ and this is the only type he can receive. I have had to buy blood but sometimes I just can't get it and he spends a month without a transfusion. There's no congenital blood here because there are no reagents, and the government has not done anything to solve the problem for children with this condition. Untreated blood means they vomit and get diarrhea. I'd do anything for my child's life, I'd go anywhere. I'm not going to let him die; he is my son"
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Adriana Avariano poses with her 6-year-old daughter Mariana. Mariana has been diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and is in the first phase of chemotherapy. The protocol, that should last two years, has been extended due to the suspension of chemotherapy sessions - meanwhile, her cancer cells are reproducing
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival "Thank God we do not need a bone marrow transplant," Adriana said. "The day they tell us that it is necessary we are going to have to leave the country, because it is a lie that they are going to help us here. Many children have already died waiting for that transplant"
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival Geraldine Labrador holds a photo of her late son Robert. Robert died at the age of seven of acute Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a few days before this picture was taken
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
In crisis-hit Venezuela, terminally ill children struggle for survival '"Doctors told me he was very sick; one of them said that they had to put tubes in him because if he had respiratory failure they did not have the tools to help him. They stabilized his tension, but he went into a respiratory failure at 5am. For 40 minutes doctors were assisting him, until one came up to me and said: 'I do not want to be the last person to see the last breath of your son; you are the one who deserves to be there.' I went in there willing to give my son strength to resist, but in the midst of despair I told the doctors to leave him alone. I was with him, I kissed him a lot, and I decided to take all the tubes off. He did not deserve to suffer any longer"
Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
Mr Guaido invoked the Venezuelan constitution in January to assume an interim presidency, arguing the South American country’s President Nicolas Maduro was illegitimate.
Four months later, he led a failed attempt to spark a military rebellion against Mr Maduro, who said it was part of a US-orchestrated coup.
The president has called Mr Guaido a US-backed puppet and has so far retained his grip on the levers of government.
Close allies of Mr Guaido have subsequently been arrested. While his parliamentary immunity has been lifted, he has so far not been jailed
Under Mr Maduro’s leadership, the economy has collapsed and shortages of food and medicines have become widespread.
Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Fuel has also become scarce in parts of the oil-rich country and and some drivers have queued for days at petrol stations. There have also been frequent blackouts.
Mr Maduro’s government has blamed US sanctions for the shortages, while the opposition had argued that they are the result of mismanagement and corruption by consecutive socialist governments.
In April, United Nations agencies said more than 4 million Venezuelans had fled the country, adding that the pace of people fleeing had ”skyrocketed” since the end of 2015.
The State Department announced in June it was slashing hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, after Mr Trump said the three countries were not doing enough to stem migration.
Agencies contributed to this report
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