Red Cross to Be Shipping Humanitarian Aid to Venezuela – Health Minister

CARACAS (Sputnik) – Venezuelan Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) planned to ship aid to Venezuela every two to three weeks.

"Yesterday, we carried out a technical meeting, while today we are resuming it to discuss distribution. Our friends from the Red Cross say that it is possible to bring one batch of cargo in at least every two to three weeks in order to meet various needs," Alvarado said, as aired by a Venezuelan state-run TV broadcaster, on Wednesday.

The minister added that supplies from Russia and China, which have previously provided humanitarian assistance to Venezuela, were on their way to the South American country.

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Last week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he had agreed upon receiving humanitarian assistance with ICRC amid a dire economic situation and a political crisis in the country. The committee subsequently said it had decided to almost triple its budget for humanitarian assistance to Venezuela to over $24 million as a result of the visit of ICRC President Peter Maurer to the Latin American country. The first batch of the ICRC aid arrived in Venezuela on Tuesday.

Venezuela has been suffering from an economic crisis for months. Since January, the situation in the country has also been exacerbated due to a political crisis.