Venezuela to Take In 20,000 Syrian Refugees

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Monday his country will receive 20,000 Syrian refugees fleeing Western interventionism, war and violence. This is the same number of refugees U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that his country will accept over the next five years.

syrian-refugees

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Monday his country will receive 20,000 Syrian refugees fleeing Western interventionism, war and violence.

This is the same number of refugees U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that his country will accept over the next five years.

Maduro took the chance to condemn plans by the U.S. and its Western allies to topple the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, who was democratically elected.

Instead, he said, they should seek to implement a peace plan for Syria, where a civil war that began in 2011 has left over 250,000 people dead and over 11 million displaced, including 3 million externally.

The U. N. agency for refugees recently revealed that Venezuela has received over 200,000 refugees in the last couple of years, of which over 95 percent are Colombians, who arrived in the neighboring country fleeing from violence, poverty and war.