The first vice president and minister of Economy, Trade and Employment, Carlos Cuerpo, announced this Friday that his Department has ordered the launch of financing of up to one million euros, channeled through multilateral institutions, in order to support Venezuela after the disaster caused by the recent earthquakes.
"These initial hours are the most important, the most difficult, and therefore we are trying, as far as possible, to contribute to minimizing the consequences, although we are already seeing the devastating consequences," Carlos Cuerpo stated before participating in the inauguration of the 67th Ordinary Meeting of the Assembly of Governors of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), in Oviedo.
The head of Economy conveyed, on behalf of the Government, a message addressed to all those affected and to the victims, expressing his regret and his support in these "very difficult" times. He stressed that, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs has already pointed out, the Executive is constantly monitoring the situation, trying to locate all Spaniards in the area hit by the earthquakes, although they have not yet managed to contact all of them.
"To also send a message to get in touch as much as possible with the Consulate so that we can follow up and help them in whatever we can in these difficult circumstances," the minister conveyed.
Cuerpo also recalled that during the early hours of the morning, a plane took off for Venezuela with personnel from the UME, as well as firefighters from the Community of Madrid and personnel from the Cooperation Agency, with the aim of providing support on the ground in whatever is necessary.
Asturians not located in the affected area
For his part, the president of the Principality, Adrián Barbón, stated that there are some Asturians with whom they have not yet managed to establish communication and, therefore, he pointed out that "the data they are giving him is of some possible missing person."
"We have offered ourselves to the Government of Spain within the reserve that is organizing the rapid response and there is a part that has already traveled to Venezuela to collaborate in the tasks. We have offered our Emergency Service and the resources at our disposal and we are in close contact, well, with the Asturian community hoping to have good news. We are at the mercy of the need for the request from the Venezuelan State itself to also be organized," Barbón indicated.
Along these lines, the Asturian president has emphasized that in situations like this it is essential to adapt to the needs that arise, given that it is necessary to coordinate numerous devices, very diverse among themselves and with different ways of working.