President Hugo Chavez announced that “Venezuela has recently joined international cooperation by sending 20 tons of food to help those affected,” by the recent extreme weather and mudslides in Bolivia associated with the El Niño weather system. Those affected include people living in some of the poorest ‘barrios’ of the capital La Paz, where 400 homes have been destroyed.
On Saturday March 5 Venezuela sent one of the state-run airline Conviasa’s planes to Bolivia with five tons of equipment and food including black beans, lentils, peas, corn flour, sugar, rice, pasta, oil, milk, wheat flour, margarine and tuna. The next day another plane with 15 tons of non-perishable food and tents departed.
Chavez expressed his country’s sympathy with the Bolivian people having suffered similar events in Venezuela last year. The Director of Civil Protection and Disaster Management, Luis Diaz, said that this food represents solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivian friends; “they helped us with the events we experienced in November and December 2010 by sending humanitarian aid and today we are returning that contribution with this small shipment”.