Commissioner Diaz applauds planned deployment of U.S. Navy hospital ship to Venezuelan refugees

MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz is sponsoring a resolution supporting the Trump administration’s plans to deploy a U.S. Navy hospital ship to provide aid to Venezuelan refugees fleeing the country’s political unrest and economic crisis.

The resolution is scheduled for consideration at the June 18 County Commission meeting.

The Trump administration recently announced that the USNS Comfort, which provides a full spectrum of surgical and medical services, will embark on a five-month humanitarian mission to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America to aid people fleeing Venezuela Nicolas Maduro’s regime for neighboring countries. Commissioner Diaz will participate in the ship’s official sendoff when it departs from the PortMiami on June 18.

In 2018, an average of 5,000 Venezuelan people left their country each day in search of protection and better living circumstances. According to the United Nations, about 2.7 million Venezuelans are being hosted in other Latin American and Caribbean countries, which are struggling with widespread shortages of food and medicine.  The Trump administration has warned that another 2 million Venezuelan people are expected to flee their country by the end of the year if the crisis in Venezuela continues.

Commissioner Diaz, whose district includes Doral, which is home to the largest concentration of Venezuelans in the United States, has sponsored several resolutions condemning Venezuela’s socialist government.