UN seeks $1.72 billion next year to aid Venezuelan migrants, refugees

FILE PHOTO: Colombian civil defense employees set up tents for a UN refugee agency UNHCR camp that will serve as a shelter for Venezuelan migrants in Arauquita, Colombia March 27, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez/File Photo

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - The United Nations will seek $1.72 billion for 2023 to aid Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean, member agencies said on Thursday.

Some 7 million people have fled economic and political crisis in Venezuela in recent years, and most are now scattered around the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a joint statement.