WILLEMSTAD - For the first time, American relief supplies destined for Venezuela were transported via the Netherlands to Curaçao. This concerns medicines and medical material. Part of the relief supplies is also destined for Venezuelan migrants in Curaçao, the American consulate reports.

Curaçao lies off the coast of Venezuela and, like Brazil and Colombia, is a humanitarian center for help from the United States. The agreements on this with the Netherlands were made last month.

The packages consist of so-called kits with health packages for providing medical assistance in emergency situations. These relief supplies were packaged in the Netherlands. They contain medicines and medical supplies such as bandages, gauzes, examination gloves, thermometers and syringes for hospitals and health centers.

The 12 pallets of relief supply that now arrive on the island will only go to Venezuela if efficient and safe distribution is guaranteed there. The American consul general in Curaçao, Margaret Hawthorne, calls on President Nicolás Maduro to open the borders and let the aid in.

A part is therefore intended for Venezuelan migrants on the island. Together with the International Organization of Migration (IOM), food packages and necessary relief supplies are distributed to Venezuelan families on the island.

Venezuelans who are staying on the island illegally are also eligible for emergency aid, confirms Eugene Rhuggenaath, Prime Minister of Curaçao. An estimated 12,000 of the 15,000 migrants live in hiding in Curaçao under sometimes dire conditions.

The prime minister's confirmation is remarkable: Curaçao has no asylum legislation and immediately sends almost every Venezuelan who is arrested back to his own country.