Donors pledge $1.5 billion for Venezuelan migrants, humanitarian crisis

FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan refugees walk to a school where a temporary shelter has been set up, to receive medical assistance and humanitarian aid from the Colombian Red Cross, in Arauquita, Colombia March 28, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez//File Photo

(Reuters) -More than 30 countries and two development banks on Thursday pledged more than $1.5 billion in grants and loans to aid Venezuelan migrants fleeing a humanitarian crisis, as well as their host countries and vulnerable people still in the country.

The $954 million in grants announced at a donors' conference hosted by Canada - which included pledges of $407 million from the United States and C$115 million Canadian dollars ($93.12 million) from Canada - exceeded the $653 million announced at a similar event last year.