The food assistance agency of the United Nations announced Wednesday that it is expanding operations in Venezuela by providing hot meals to 16,000 children and adults in more than 100 schools.
The U.N. World Food Program, which began delivering food to needy Venezuelans in 2021, will offer the hot meals as a pilot program in public schools whose cafeterias have been equipped and upgraded. The schools are in the northwestern state of Falcón, where economic activity is heavily dependent on government-owned oil refineries whose production has tanked since last decade. Remaining workers cannot afford food on their monthly $5 paycheck.
