Queen Letizia meets volunteers heading to Venezuela

Queen Letizia of Spain met with the volunteers of the START team (Spanish Technical Aid Response Team) and the staff of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) who will be travelling to Venezuela.

The volunteers will be deployed to Venezuela to assist those affected in the recent earthquakes. Queen Letizia was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, and the Director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, Antón Leis.

The START team consists of 44 healthcare professionals, logistics personnel, and cooks. A total of 90 professionals will be mobilised in two planned rotations, with the rotations alternating after 15 days. The team was founded in 2016 by the Humanitarian Action Directorate of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation and is known as the Red Vests. They have enabled Spain to deploy a top-tier medical team to any humanitarian emergency worldwide. Their hospital can be operational within 36 hours.