U.S. Considering Humanitarian Corridor for Venezuela Aid, Envoy Says

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is ready to offer more humanitarian aid to Venezuela and is weighing the possibility of a corridor to help people hit by the country's turmoil, the State Department's envoy for the crisis said.

“We're making a big and growing humanitarian effort,” Elliott Abrams, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo's special representative for Venezuela, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. “The humanitarian corridor is something we are looking at, but of course it requires the cooperation of the regime. I don't know how practical that is -- it hasn't been possible to date.”

Abrams said the aid would be in addition to the $20 million Pompeo promised last week after the U.S. recognized National Assembly leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president. He said there were two needs: immediate humanitarian relief and money to rebuild the country.

The U.S. has also begun a process to figure out how much money Venezuela has overseas, Abrams said, as the administration seeks to make sure President Nicolas Maduro's regime doesn't funnel resources away from Guaido. Abrams said he doesn't yet have a dollar figure for the country's overseas assets.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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